Method for detecting or quantifying carbon black and/or black carbon particles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11002679-B2
Application number	US-201716069281-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2017
Priority date	Jan 12, 2016
Publication date	May 11, 2021
Grant date	May 11, 2021

Abstract

A method for detecting the presence of or quantification of carbon black and/or black carbon in a sample or carrier medium. The method includes providing the sample or carrier medium without labelling or pre-treatment of the carbon black and/or black carbon particles; illuminating the sample or carrier medium at a temperature below 90° C. by a pulsed light with a pulse duration below 500 femtoseconds, a repetition rate above 1 MHz with an average power below 20 mW, and a wavelength of a femtosecond laser pulse ranging from 700 to 1200 nm, to generate non-incandescence related light emission from the carbon black and/or black carbon particles; and analysis of the light emission.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for quantification of carbon black and/or black carbon in a sample or carrier medium, the method comprising:
providing the sample or carrier medium without labelling of the carbon black and/or black carbon particles and without pre-treatment of the carbon black and/or black carbon particles;
illuminating the sample or carrier medium at a temperature below 90° C. by a pulsed light with a pulse duration below 500 femtoseconds, a repetition rate above 1 MHz with an average power below 20 mW, and a wavelength of a femtosecond laser pulse ranging from 700 to 1200 nm, to generate non-incandescence related light emission from the carbon black and/or black carbon particles; and
analysis of the light emission to quantify the carbon black and/or black carbon in the sample or carrier medium.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the illumination is performed with a femtosecond laser focused on the sample using a stationary or scanning beam delivery.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the average power of the pulsed light is between 4 and 5 mW.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample or carrier medium comprises a material or compound with autofluorescence properties.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample or carrier medium comprises a compound selected from the group consisting of mitochondria, lysosomes, flavins, extracellular matrix, collagen, elastin, NAD(P)H, chlorophyll, retinol, cholecalciferol, folic acid, pyridoxine, tyrosine, dityrosine, excimer-like aggregate, glycation adduct, indolamine, lipofuscin, polyphenol, tryptophan, and melanin, or a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the intensity and/or wavelength of the pulsed light is varied until emission from the carbon black and/or black carbon particles is distinguishable from emission noise from the sample.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pulsed light intensity and/or wavelength is modulated to reach near infrared emission.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein shorter emission wavelengths than the near infrared emission are filtered out by a wave length filter to distinguish carbon black and/or black carbon particles emission from background noise emission.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample or carrier medium is illuminated at a temperature between 1° C. and 80° C.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the sample or carrier medium is illuminated at a temperature between 10° C. and 50° C.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample is blood or urine.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample is a liquid sample, cell sample or tissue sample of biological origin, wherein the cells in the cell sample or tissue sample have an intracellular water content greater than 40%.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method comprises quantification of black carbon particles without labelling of the black carbon particles and without pre-treatment of the black carbon particles.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the black carbon particles are aggregated black carbon particles.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the sample or carrier medium comprises carbon black or black carbon particles from environmental or industrial pollution.

Assignees

• Katholieke Univ Leuven Ku Leuven Research & Development
• Univ Hasselt
• Univ Leuven Kath

Inventors

• Ameloot Marcel
• Bové Hannelore
• Nawrot Tim
• Roeffaers Maarten
• Steuwe Christian
• Vandeven Martin

Classifications

• G01N21/63 Primary

  optically excited · CPC title

• G01J1/58

  using luminescence generated by light · CPC title

• G01N2015/0038

  Investigating nanoparticles · CPC title

• G01N15/06

  Investigating concentration of particle suspensions (by weighing G01N5/00; investigating sedimentation of particle suspensions G01N15/04; investigating individual particles G01N15/10) · CPC title

• B82Y15/00

  Nanotechnology for interacting, sensing or actuating, e.g. quantum dots as markers in protein assays or molecular motors · CPC title