Determination of VOC transport parameters in artificial skin and the influence of temperature on permeability

Abstract

Skin exposure represents a persistent and significant pathway for human exposure to gaseous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), whereas the underlying mass transfer mechanism remains inadequately explored. In this study, we propose a novel method to determine the key transport parameters by exposing artificial skin to gaseous VOCs, specifically the diffusion coefficient (D_m) and partition coefficient (K) which characterize the absorption and desorption of VOCs into skin. The key transport parameters of several highly-concerned VOCs are extracted by integrating experimental data with a developed skin model. Reliability and robustness of the method are validated via repeated experiments and uncertainty analysis. Our results show that variations in the physicochemical properties of VOCs result in distinct mass transfer characteristics through artificial skin. We further calculate the absorption resistance and average daily dose (ADD), and find that elevated artificial skin temperatures facilitate increased VOCs absorption. These findings provide a basis for better understanding gaseous VOCs dermal exposure, which is essential for accurate health risk evaluation.