Airborne particulate matter in an iron mining city: Characterization, cell uptake and cytotoxicity effects of nanoparticles from PM2.5, PM10 and PM20 on human lung cells

The results demonstrate that the PM10 mass collected were higher than those reported by the local governmental agencies and the PMs are mainly constituted by hematite and quartz. EDS analysis showed the presence of Fe, Si, Mg, Al, Zi, Ca, and emerging metallic contaminants, such as Ba and Ti, in environmental samples.