We’ve been busy over the past few months!

Particles Plus recently attended the US EPA’s National Ambient Air Monitoring Conference (NAAMC), the University of Miami’s Center for Aerosol Science and Technology (CAST) Workshop, and the European Aerosol Conference (EAC) in Tampere, Finland. At each of these events, we had the opportunity to connect with air quality professionals and experts from around the world. We’re excited to share some highlights from the groundbreaking research that’s pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in air quality monitoring.

The collective work of thousands of researchers is helping to piece together the puzzle of how natural and human-driven processes impact our air and ecosystems. Air quality can vary greatly—not just between cities, but between neighboring suburbs, or even between blocks in the same neighborhood. It also fluctuates over time, whether it’s the time of day or seasonally. Much of the recent research focuses on how local microenvironments are affected and how they influence the broader environment.

Here are some of the key areas where research is making strides:

• Ultrafine PM Monitoring for Public Health – As climate change dries regions like the American Midwest( i.e. receding lakes and shrinking rivers) and produces more airborne dust, state and local PM monitoring agencies are improving detection grids to deliver rapid air quality alerts.
• Wildfires and Combustion Events – With increasingly dry summers fueling a rise in wildfires, forestry services are prioritizing early detection systems to mitigate risks and protect communities.
• Mine Emissions – As demand for rare minerals and electric vehicles grows, experts are intensifying monitoring efforts to minimize the environmental impact of mining.
• Weather’s Impact on Local Air Quality – The use of low-cost air quality sensors is booming, and researchers are leveraging machine learning to analyze large datasets and better understand how weather affects outdoor air quality.
• Traffic Emission Monitoring – As infrastructure modernizes and vehicle usage grows, there’s a greater need for updated traffic emission systems, as traffic emissions encompass more than just combustible by-products.
• Indoor Air Quality – Affordable air quality sensors are entering the consumer market, making indoor air quality monitoring more accessible and widespread.
• Microplastics and PFAS – Researchers are developing advanced techniques to better detect man-made pollutants like microplastics and PFAS, which are present not only in emissions but also in natural processes like sea spray.

Particles Plus is proud to support researchers across the globe as they generate revolutionary data in these areas. Our research-grade optical particle counters go beyond traditional low-cost sensors, providing critical size discrimination in particle counts. This is essential, as thousands of 0.3μm particles are vastly different from a single PM2.5 particle, and should not be reported as the same.

We’re also excited to introduce our new Condensation Particle Counter (CPC)—the smallest and most affordable CPC on the market. With research-grade accuracy and an R² value of 0.99, it enables researchers to deploy more CPCs while maintaining unparalleled precision.

We look forward to continuing our partnership with researchers and supporting their vital work to improve air quality for everyone.