The methodological gap in studying environmental nanoparticles is largely due to their low content (typically around 0.01–0.1 %) in ash, dust, or soil, making their isolation and quantitative analysis difficult. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a new sample preparation method for volcanic ash samples (sequential dispersion in 0.1 M NaCl and 2 mM NaPO) followed by nanoparticle separation using flow field-flow fractionation in a rotating spiral column with 2 mM NaPO solution as the eluent. The method increases the yield of isolated nanoparticles by an order of magnitude and allows for the detection of elements (such as Be, Cr, Co, Zn, Ag, Sb, Te, Ta, W, Tl, Bi) in volcanic ash nanoparticles at concentrations below the detection limits of ICP-MS when deionized water is used as the eluent.
A.S. Brzhezinskiy (Wed,) studied this question.