Performance Evaluation of Low-Cost Sensors in a PM2.5-10 Dominant Environment

Low-cost PM sensors (LCS) are increasing in popularity due to increasing interest in air quality, especially for saturation style campaigns. However, poor performance of popular options such as the Plantower during periods of high coarse (PM2.5-10) particle concentration prompted the need for evaluation of available LCS in a PM2.5-10 dominant environment. Using a coarse particle concentrator at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, a comparison of the Alphasense OPC-N3 (AS), Tera NextPM (TN) and Plantower PMS5003 (PA) against TSI DustTrak (calibrated against ThermoFisher Scientific SHARP 5030i) showed AS considerably overestimated the reference but tracked the trend most reliably. PA showed negligible response and has been shown to maintain a constant PM2.5/PM10 ratio. TN performed similarly to AS with lower offset. Further trials needed to decipher ideal device for high dust environments.