Photochemical Aging of Organic Aerosol Particles

Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) particles are produced in the atmosphere as a result of oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOC). Primary Organic Aerosol (POA) particles are directly emitted in the atmosphere by their sources. This research focuses on the mechanisms of direct photochemical processes taking place in model SOA and POA particles, the role of such processes in aging of organic aerosol particles, and the effect of photochemistry on particles' physicochemical properties. To address these questions, artificial SOA and POA particles are investigated with several laboratory-based approaches relying on cavity ring-down spectroscopy and mass-spectrometry. SOA particles generated by dark oxidation of d-Limonene, alpha-Pinene, and beta-Pinene by ozone are all found to absorb radiation in the tropospheric actinic window. The UV absorption photolyzes SOA constituents resulting in a release of small VOC molecules back in the gas-phase, and considerable change in SOA chemical composition. For terpenes featuring a terminal double bond, the main SOA photolysis products are invariably found to be formaldehyde and formic acid. Similar observations are obtained for products of ozonolysis of thin films of unsaturated fatty acids and self-assembled monolayers of unsaturated alkenes. For the case of fatty acids, a very detailed mechanism of ozonolysis and subsequent photolysis is proposed. The photolytic activity is primarily attributed to organic peroxides and aldehydes. These results convincingly demonstrate that photochemical processes occurring inside SOA and POA particles age the particles on time scales that are shorter than typical lifetimes of aerosol particles in the atmosphere.