Influence of Heterogeneous OH Oxidation on the Evaporation Behavior and Composition of a Model Organic Aerosol

Heterogeneously oxidized squalane particles are used here as a model system to investigate the interplay between chemical composition and particle volatility. Reaction of squalane particles by OH radicals leads to the production of oxygenated products. Here we use the vacuum ultra-violet Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (VUV-AMS) at beamline 9.0.2 at the Advanced Light Source to monitor the evolution of specific oxidation products that result from increasing OH exposures, and how the composition changes as the oxidized particles evaporate. The soft ionization in the VUV-AMS allows us to uniquely track the parent squalane molecule and the various oxidation products over multiple generations of oxidation. Compositional changes of the oxidized particles resulting from evaporation have been measured in three sets of laboratory experiments. In the first set, a thermodenuder at varying temperatures was used to induce evaporation of particles at a fixed OH exposure. Second, the OH exposure was varied along with temperature to create a cross-sectional observation of particle composition at 50% mass fraction remaining for ten different oxidation levels. The combination of these two experiments provides information as to the compositional changes that occur during evaporation due to heating. In the third set of experiments, VUV-AMS spectra of oxidized squalane particles following dilution-induced evaporation were measured for comparison with the thermodenuder experiments. These experiments provide insights into the relationships between particle oxidation, composition and evaporation kinetics.