Work

A Low-Cost Static and Wearable Passive Sampler for Chemical Fingerprinting of Indoor and Outdoor Airborne Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding indoor and outdoor airborne organic mixtures, including semi-volatile organic compounds (sVOCs), remains challenging as quantitative monitoring is often costly and difficult to scale across buildings and individuals. Here we present a low-cost, miniaturised passive sampler-based methodology for static and wearable deployment to generate time-integrated chemical fingerprints and source prioritisation. New sampler devices containing replicate 9 mm sorbent discs (Tenax® TA and/or polydimethylsiloxane) were deployed for 28 days in indoor (kitchen, bedroom) and outdoor (roadside) environments and worn by five participants; extracts were analysed by liquid extraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) using conservative, transparent criteria for tentative compound identification. Across the household deployments, 52 compounds met inclusion criteria and distinct room-specific and outdoor chemical signatures were observed. Wearable deployments also produced differentiable chemical profiles, with greater similarity among co-inhabitants, but still could differentiate co-habitant activities based on exposure. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using miniature passive samplers to obtain reproducible, information-rich profiles that can help discriminate environments and exposure scenarios.

Source: International Journal of Environmental Medicine

DOI: 10.3390/ijem1030011

Authors: Holly M. Walder, Shane Fitzgerald, Leon P. Barron, Ian S. Mudway

Institutions: MRC Centre for Environment and Health, Imperial College London

Language: English

Topic: Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure

Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funder: National Institute for Health and Care Research