Abstract
Interaction between nanoparticles and biological tissues strongly depend on the speciation and form of constituent elements. In these several years, we have been focusing on the speciation of metals particularly associated with fine fraction of PM to elucidate the toxicity of those particles. State-of-the-art electron microscopy and synchrotron-based X-ray absorption fine structure have been utilized to characterize urban aerosols. The results obtained from these samples reveal the complex mixing state of toxic metals and the size-dependent phase heterogeneity bearing the elements of interest. This presentation summarizes our recent projects particularly focusing on the speciation of metals: Fe, Pb, Cr, and Mn.
