Physicochemical characterization of direct injection Engines's soot using TEM, EDS, X-ray diffraction and TGA

The physical characteristics and elemental composition of particulate matters (PMs) from gasoline direct injection spark ignition (GDI-SI) engines were successfully investigated using transmission electron microscopy - energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDS). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to analyze the PMs oxidation. The morphology of agglomerated GDI-PMs is not significantly different from the diesel direct injection compression ignition (DDI-CI) engine's PMs. The spherical single primary nanoparticles of the engine's soot composed of curve line carbon crystallites. The average diameter size of the single primary nanoparticles of GDI, DDI, and carbon black are approximately 24 nm, 26 nm, and 31 nm, while the inter-planar spacing is about 0.364 nm, 0.358 nm, and 0.356 nm, respectively. The total fringe lengths of GDI, DDI, and carbon black are approximately 154 nm, 159 nm, and 163 nm measured from the areas of 10 nm × 10 nm inner core regions of primary nanoparticles, and are 180 nm, 195 nm, and 228 nm from the outer shell regions, respectively. The total fringe lengths of inner core are shorter than the outer shell. Besides, the engine's PMs contains both crystalline and amorphous carbon structure using XRD analysis. The GDI-PMs had the least crystalline structure compared to the DDI-PMs and carbon black due to the higher percentage of amorphous fraction. TGA analysis showed that the GDI-PMs oxidation was faster than the DDI-PMs and CB-N330 oxidation because of the primary particle size, the fringe length, and the crystal size which have an impact on oxidation kinetics of particulate matters.