Supplemental Information for
Design and characterization of an inhalation system of iron and
manganese oxide nanoparticles for rodent exposure
by
Présumé1, M., Attoui2, M., Maisser3, A., Petit4, G., Lanone1,5,6, S.
1
INSERM, U955 Equipe 4, 8 rue du Général Sarrail, 94000 Créteil, France
2
LISA, UMR CNRS 7583, Université Paris-Est et Université Paris-Diderot, Paris, France
Email : attoui@u-pec.fr
Tel 33 1 45 17 13 56
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 136 NL - 2628 BL Delft,
Netherlands. Present address :
4
Laboratoire des particules inhalées, 11 rue Georges Eastman, 75013 Paris, France
5
Université Paris Est-Créteil, Faculté de Médecine, Créteil, 94000, France.
6
Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil, Service de Pneumologie et de Pathologie Professionnelle, Créteil,
94000, France.
Contents
Figure S1 ……………………..Diagram of the spark generator.
Figure S2 …………………….. Spark chamber view
Figure S3 ……………………..Inhalation chamber picture
Figure S4…………………….. Comparison theory experiments of the penetration coefficient
of the nanoparticles in the inhalation chamber.
Figure S1
Spark chamber based on a five arms stainless steel cross with 4 NW40 clamps and a window.
The figure shows the spark generator that was built in our laboratory for the present project. It
consists of five arms high vacuum NW 40 stainless steel cross (Kurt Lesker Company in our
case but any supplier of high vacuum parts can provide it) with a viewport a chamber about
300 cm3 in volume.
Two opposite power feedthroughs are used to hold the grounded and the high voltage
electrodes. To prevent contamination the HV feedthrough uses ceramic as insulator (up to 10
kV and 5 Amps). The grounded feedthrough is adjustable which gives the freedom to the
used to fix the distance gap between the electrodes and keep it constant.
The electrodes supplied by Goodfellow are 5-6 mm in diameter, and the gap between them is
adjustable from zero to a few millimeters. They are connected to a variable current and
variable voltage high voltage power supply, and parallel to a variable capacitor with a
maximum capacitance of 20 nF. A high voltage diodes mounted in serial protect the power
supply from the discharges. The power supply delivers a constant current, periodically
recharging the capacitor after discharge has occurred at the breakdown voltage.
Figure S2
Picture of the spark chamber. The bluish spot visible through the window is the plasma
produced by the quasi continuous spark between the electrodes. All the parts (standard NW
40) are purchased from Kurt Lesker ihttp://www.lesker.com)including the HV connector. The
total price is around 500 Euros. These parts can be purchased from any supplier of high
vacuum parts of course. The grounded electrode is mounted on a micrometer holder used to
control the gap distance between the electrodes from ‘zero’ to few millimeters.
Figure S3
View of the inhalation chamber inside a tight plastic box on the right. On the left one can see
the details of the inhalation chamber itself with the different mice compartments on either side
of the central tunnel.
Figure S4
Singly charged selected nanoparticles from 10 to 60 nm are used to measure the penetration in
the tunnel. Nine liters per minute clean compressed air are added to the 2 lpm flowrate from
the DMA to reach 10 lpm inside the tunnel. 1 lpm is used by the cpc upstream of the tunnel.
The experimental results are compared to the Gormley and Kennedy equation results. The
difference for the smallest size (10 nm) is only 1 %. The measured penetration is smaller than
the penetration given by the G&K equation.