Measurement of hansen solubility parameter on pollen particle surface using capillary penetration method

Pollen from species such as cedar and ragweed can negatively affect human health, and this is a problem around the world. Various attempts have been made to mitigate the effects of pollen on human health. This study was focused on removing pollen from air by efficiently collecting the pollen. To achieve that requires the physical properties of the pollen surfaces to be understood. Hansen solubility parameters (HSPs) are very useful for evaluating the surfaces of particles made of materials such as ZrO2, TiO2, and SiO2. However, it is very difficult to evaluate the surfaces of particles made of biomaterials (e.g., pollen and mite and flea carcasses) because of the complex surface structures of such particles. In this paper, HSPs for pollen particle surfaces were measured using the capillary permeation method, which can be used to evaluate even particles with complicated shapes. The chemical structures of the pollen surfaces were then investigated to provide data to validate the measured HSPs. The measured cedar pollen HSPs were (δd, δp, δh) = (15.8, 5.4, 11.7), and the measured cypress pollen HSPs were (δd, δp, δh) = (16.0, 4.7, 11.3). A liquid mixture designed to be very compatible with the HSPs was also developed. •Compatibility of pollen surface can be measured by the capillary penetration method.•The cedar pollen HSPs were (δd, δp, δh) = (15.8, 5.4, 11.7).•The cypress pollen HSPs were (δd, δp, δh) = (16.0, 4.7, 11.3).