Issue 6, 2021

Aging of atmospheric aerosols and the role of iron in catalyzing brown carbon formation

Abstract

Extensive research has been done on the processes that lead to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) including the atmospheric oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from biogenic and anthropogenic sources, gas–particle partitioning, and multiphase/heterogeneous reactions. Also, a number of chemical and photochemical aging processes of primary aerosols and SOA were reported to lead to the formation of “brown carbon (BrC)”, a term that refers to light absorbing soluble and insoluble components. However, the role of transition metals such as iron in these processes is not well understood. This review summarized the current state of knowledge on iron chemistry that lead to BrC formation. Dark iron chemistry with phenolic and aliphatic organic precursors is shown to be responsible for the efficient formation of soluble and insoluble BrC, including organonitrogen compounds, under a wide range of atmospheric aerosol physical states and chemical compositions. These efficient processes are not completely suppressed in the presence of competing ligands or light. The atmospheric impact of SOA and BrC from these pathways is discussed in the context of aerosols' direct and indirect effects on the climate. Additional laboratory, field, and modeling studies are needed to better understand the contributions of these potentially important metal-catalyzed pathways to SOA and BrC formation and the overall aerosol chemistry.

Graphical abstract: Aging of atmospheric aerosols and the role of iron in catalyzing brown carbon formation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Critical Review
Submitted
11 may 2021
Accepted
06 iyl 2021
First published
07 iyl 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2021,1, 297-345

Aging of atmospheric aerosols and the role of iron in catalyzing brown carbon formation

H. A. Al-Abadleh, Environ. Sci.: Atmos., 2021, 1, 297 DOI: 10.1039/D1EA00038A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements