Themed collection Physical chemistry of aerosols

This special issue provides an overview of the state-of-the-art of research in the field of aerosol science.

This Perspective article gives a personal outlook on some chemistry occurring at the interface between air and condensed phases of potential atmospheric importance.

Simulations of proteins in vacuum show that a water layer corresponding to 3 μm preserves the protein structure, even at temperatures as high as 425 K.

Low temperature freezing of soot depends on hydrophilicity and hygroscopicity.

When HCl and NH₃ are injected into a collisional cell at 80 K, the pressure of N₂ buffer gas determines whether homogeneous particle formation or the chemical reaction to produce NH₄Cl dominates.

Homogeneous ice nucleation from aqueous (NH₄)₂SO₄ and levoglucosan particles is determined as a function of temperature and water activity.

A molecular beam technique has been used to study the dynamics and mass accommodation of HCl molecules in collision with sulfuric acid/water surfaces.

Simultaneous measurement of oleic acid and ozone decay reveals stoichiometry considerably exceeding that of the primary and known secondary reactions.

In situ and surface-sensitive spectroscopy of solid tannic acid photodegradation, the structure of adsorbed water before and after photodegradation and the hydrophilicity change as a result.

NO₃ and N₂O₅ reactive uptake coefficients were determined for five organic compounds to determine the atmospheric relevance of these heterogeneous reactions.

Surface aerosols microscope (SAM) developed and utilised for quantitative investigations of single and multi-step deliquescence of internally mixed ternary aerosols.

Ion evaporation kinetics of ionic liquids are studied using a parallel-plate differential mobility analyzer coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

H₂O₂ was observed as a main product of HO₂ interaction with salt surface indicating a heterogeneous HO₂ self reaction mechanism.

Monoterpene oxides, rather than aldehydes or alcohols, are identified as important precursors in the formation of atmospherically relevant monoterpene organosulfates.

Formation of an aerosol from co-mixtures of CO₂ and H₂O in He(g) may lead to nucleation and isolation of primary CO₂ particles on aggregates of water–ice particles.

An optically trapped aerosol particle can be isolated from a flow of aerosol by encircling it with a light scattering ring.

High-resolution mass spectrometry simultaneously detects hundreds of condensable organic species during the course of reaction between limonene and ozone.

A new approach to retrieve the effective broadband refractive indices of aerosols by a white light aerosol spectrometer is presented.

Using cavity enhanced Raman scattering, we probe the evolving gradient in near-surface composition during the evaporation of a multicomponent droplet.

The degree of oxidation of secondary organic aerosol has less effect on droplet activation than previously anticipated.

Fundamental changes to the composition of model organic aerosols upon heterogeneous oxidation were monitored using high-resolution electron-impact aerosol mass spectrometry.

Fragmentation of metastable molecular ions during storage in an ITMS can reduce some of the benefits of using a soft ionization technique for single particle measurements.

Characterization of the interaction between water vapor and atmospheric mineral particles as a function of size, composition, and generation method.

Enhancement in the optical properties of soot by transparent coatings is strongly related to the ability of the coating materials to change the morphology of soot aggregates.

We report a new method for measuring the heterogeneous chemistry of sub-micron organic aerosol particles using a continuous flow stirred tank reactor.

Liquid aerosols of ozone have been generated in a collisional cooling cell and measured by FTIR spectroscopy.

A kinetic model was developed to describe the heterogeneous conversion of 1,4-hydroxycarbonyls to cyclic hemiacetals and dihydrofurans in atmospheric aerosol particles.

Heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) spectroscopy of secondary organic aerosol from limonene ozonolysis clearly identifies residual terminal unsaturations.

Refractive indices for oleic acid are reported and used to model core–shell aerosol properties.

PLA-coated naproxen particles are formed as aerosols by rapid expansion of supercritical carbon dioxide solutions.

Actinic radiation enhances the uptake of ozone by solid pyrene films and, to a lesser extent, the loss of pyrene itself.

Modelled change in hygroscopicity of calcite mineral particles following heterogeneous reaction with nitric acid vapour derived from flow tube experiments.

Erroneous surface tension models of inorganic–organic mixtures cause bigger discrepancies in CCN activation predictions than the inorganic to organic ratio.

Organic nitrates are observed from the oxidation of solid (but not liquid) brassidic acid aerosols in the presence of NO with implications for the chemical transformation of organic aerosols in the atmosphere.

We present a detailed kinetic data set for the reaction of Arizona test dust with HNO₃(g).