Comparison of optical properties of bioaerosols composed of microbial spores and hyphae [Invited]

Bioaerosols exhibit significant broadband extinction performance and have vital impacts on climate change, optical detection, communication, disease transmission, and the development of optical attenuation materials. Microbial spores and microbial hyphae represent two primary forms of bioaerosol particles. However, a comprehensive investigation and comparison of their optical properties have not been conducted yet. In this paper, the spectra of spores and hyphae were tested, and the absorption peaks, component contents, and protein structural differences were compared. Accurate structural models were established, and the optical attenuation parameters were calculated. Aerosol chamber experiments were conducted to verify the optical attenuation performance of microbial spores and hyphae in the mid-infrared and far-infrared spectral bands. Results demonstrate that selecting spores and hyphae can significantly reduce the average transmittance from 21.2% to 6.4% in the mid-infrared band and from 31.3% to 19.6% in the far-infrared band within three minutes. The conclusions have significant implications for the selection of high-performance microbial optical attenuation materials as well as for the rapid detection of bioaerosol types in research on climate change and the spread of pathogenic aerosols.