Professor Kihong Park's research team has developed the first real-time measuring device for components of ultrafine dust in Korea

□ Professor Kihong Park of the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Engineering at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST • President Seung-Hyeon Moon) is the director of the Ultra-Fine Dust Reduction Project, and his research team has developed an indigenous system that can measure the components of ultrafine dust in air in real-time.

   ∘ In particular, this achievement is meaningful because it will replace current real-time ultrafine dust measuring systems, which are fully dependent on foreign imports, and it will become the cornerstone of advanced technology for measuring ultrafine dust in Korea.

□ At present, there are only six foreign ultrafine dust measuring systems operating in Korea due to their high cost of about 560 million won per unit. In addition, only two ultrafine dust measuring systems are being operated continuously in Korea, so the lack of coverage has created issues in quickly identifying the cause of domestic ultrafine dust pollution.

   ∘ To identify the precise source and cause of ultrafine dust, it is essential to understand the components of ultrafine dust. In particular, real-time measurements are very important for rapid source tracking. In order to evaluate the precise health effects of ultrafine dust, the components of the ultrafine dust should be known.

□ The research team developed an aerosol mass spectrometer, which combines laser technology, aerosol control technology, and ion mass spectrometry technology to identify the components of single particles in real time. It has been especially successful in real-time detection of ultrafine dust components in the air.

□ First and foremost, this achievement is meaningful because it has achieved substantial results, not merely quantitative results, over repeated experiments based on long-term basic research for more than five years. Professor Park, who is also an editor at the Journal of Aerosol Science and Technology, said, "It is important to have a long-term research support and qualitative performance evaluation methods to ensure that correct research results are achieved, freeing researchers from the burden of quantitative short-term performance."

□ Professor Kihong Park also said, "The next phase of development will focus on miniaturization and commercialization, and we expect that the real-time comprehensive diagnosis of ultrafine dust will be possible soon with our technology being used at more measuring stations."

□ This research has been led by Professor Kihong Park and his Ph.D. student Heejoo Cho and was made possible through the long-term support of the technology development project supported by the Korea Meteorological Administration. Siix patents and three papers were derived from the results of the related core technology.