Development and Performance Evaluation of a Low-Cost Portable PM(2.5) Monitor for Mobile Deployment

The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) is known to vary spatially across a city landscape. Current networks of regulatory air quality monitoring are too sparse to capture these intra-city variations. In this study, we developed a low-cost (60 USD) portable PM(2.5) monitor called Smart-P, for use on bicycles, with the goal of mapping street-level variations in PM(2.5) concentration. The Smart-P is compact in size (85 × 85 × 42 mm) and light in weight (147 g). Data communication and geolocation are achieved with the cyclist’s smartphone with the help of a user-friendly app. Good agreement was observed between the Smart-P monitors and a regulatory-grade monitor (mean bias error: −3.0 to 1.5 μg m(−3) for the four monitors tested) in ambient conditions with relative humidity ranging from 38 to 100%. Monitor performance decreased in humidity > 70% condition. The measurement precision, represented as coefficient of variation, was 6 to 9% in stationary mode and 6% in biking mode across the four tested monitors. Street tests in a city with low background PM(2.5) concentrations (8 to 9 μg m(−3)) and in two cities with high background concentrations (41 to 74 μg m(−3)) showed that the Smart-P was capable of observing local emission hotspots and that its measurement was not sensitive to bicycle speed. The low-cost and user-friendly nature are two features that make the Smart-P a good choice for empowering citizen scientists to participate in local air quality monitoring.