Airmodus Oy articles

How Airmodus revolutionized nanoparticle science with the PSM

Airmodus Ltd. was originally established to bring to life a groundbreaking invention – the first-ever Particle Size Magnifier (PSM) capable of seamless 24/7 operation. In 2010, we pioneered continuous measurements of the smallest particle clusters across diverse environments, a landmark achievement that propelled scientific research forward. Our versatile instrument allowed precise measureme

Many of us spend a lot of time at home at the moment. Does this mean we are not exposed to ultrafine particles? Not really, the HOMEChem research shows.

HOMEChem campaign investigated how everyday activities impact the emissions, chemical transformations, and removal of trace gases and particles in a residential environment. In their recent publication they discuss their findings regarding 1 nm – 20 µm aerosol particles, and further estimate exposu

Topi Rönkkö, Tampere University of Technology, together with his colleagues showed that traffic is a source for small nanoparticles (link to this study further down). They call them nano cluster aerosol (NCA). The size of these particles is between 1.3-3.0 nm in diameter. Similar results are supported also by other researchers (see the links below). Atmospheric measurements near traffic show that per kg of fuel, traffic emits about 2-3*10^15 NCA. If we take the average passenge

Topi Rönkkö, Tampere University of Technology, together with his colleagues showed that traffic is a source for small nanoparticles (link to this study further down). They call them nano cluster aerosol (NCA). The size of these particles is between 1.3-3.0 nm in diameter. Similar results are supported also by other researchers (see the links below). Atmospheric measurements near traffic show that per kg of fuel, traffic emits about 2-3*10^15 NCA. If we take the average passenge

A recent article in Science [1] featured growing evidence that air pollution, especially fine particles, could be linked, not only to lung and heart disease, but also to Alzheimer’s and dementia. This kind of findings ought to interest people also outside the readership of scientific journals.

The Crown, Netflix’ new series about Queen Elizabeth II, has turned out to be quite educational in this respect. Some newspapers even called it ‘the best

Nano particles have been sized based on their electrical mobility. This is not efficient because most of the nano particles are electrically neutral. Measuring the particle size distribution typically consist of detecting size selected particles with an aerosol particle detector such as Condensation Particle Counter (CPC). This is also the working principle of Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. The particles are first neutralized to a known charge distribution, then they are selected according

This August I started as visiting scientist at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. My project focuses on understanding how, when and why vapor molecules form clusters and aerosol particles. The project is funded by the European Comission’s Horizon 2020 programme under Marie Sklodowska Curie actions. Horizon 2020 is the

This autumn I have been lecturing thermodynamics to second year physics students. Preparing lectures have taken a major part of my working hours, and every day I have been scanning my surroundings to find interesting every-day phenomena that I could use as examples on my lectures.

For a scientist, teaching is always away from the time to actually do science. We are mainly evaluated on how many articles we publish, not on how many courses we teach. However, in the best case th

The history of science is full of stories of both longstanding rivalry and successful collaboration between researchers or research groups. At best, a competitive attitude can boost the performance of scientists and speed up making discoveries and publishing results. However, nobody benefits, when the competition is going too far and people start to hide their best results and stop sharing their expertise. Also, the main competition for funding and media coverage is between different scientif