Figure 1

(a) Schematic drawing of a nanomechanical resonant filter-fiber exposed to an aerosol stream.The aerosol containing the nanoparticles is flowing through an orifice in the chip thereby passing the resonant filter-fiber. (b) The airborne nanoparticles are collected on the filter-fiber either by Brownian diffusion or inertial impaction, depending on their momentum. Particles with a small momentum (small size or low velocity) are most efficiently collected by diffusion. The thermal wiggling of the particles increases the probability of adsorption on the fiber when passing by on an intercepting streamline. Particles with a large momentum (large size or high velocity) are collected most efficiently by inertial impaction. If the momentum is big enough the particle trajectory leaves the streamline and it impinges on the fiber. (c) Scanning electron microscope image of a used filter-fiber covered with 28 nm silica nanoparticles. It can be seen that the nanoparticles are exclusively captured on the fiber and not on the achor area.