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The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles.

ABSTRACT: The growth of freshly formed aerosol particles can be the bottleneck in their survival to cloud condensation nuclei. It is therefore crucial to understand how particles grow in the atmosphere. Insufficient experimental data has impeded a profound understanding of nano-particle growth under atmospheric conditions. Here we study nano-particle growth in the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoors Droplets) chamber, starting from the formation of molecular clusters. We present measured growth rates at sub-3?nm sizes with different atmospherically relevant concentrations of sulphuric acid, water, ammonia and dimethylamine. We find that atmospheric ions and small acid-base clusters, which are not generally accounted for in the measurement of sulphuric acid vapour, can participate in the growth process, leading to enhanced growth rates. The availability of compounds capable of stabilizing sulphuric acid clusters governs the magnitude of these effects and thus the exact growth mechanism. We bring these observations into a coherent framework and discuss their significance in the atmosphere.

SUBMITTER: Lehtipalo K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4876472 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles.

Lehtipalo Katrianne K Rondo Linda L Kontkanen Jenni J Schobesberger Siegfried S Jokinen Tuija T Sarnela Nina N Kürten Andreas A Ehrhart Sebastian S Franchin Alessandro A Nieminen Tuomo T Riccobono Francesco F Sipilä Mikko M Yli-Juuti Taina T Duplissy Jonathan J Adamov Alexey A Ahlm Lars L Almeida João J Amorim Antonio A Bianchi Federico F Bianchi Federico F Breitenlechner Martin M Dommen Josef J Downard Andrew J AJ Dunne Eimear M EM Flagan Richard C RC Guida Roberto R Hakala Jani J Hansel Armin A Jud Werner W Kangasluoma Juha J Kerminen Veli-Matti VM Keskinen Helmi H Kim Jaeseok J Kirkby Jasper J Kupc Agnieszka A Kupiainen-Määttä Oona O Laaksonen Ari A Lawler Michael J MJ Leiminger Markus M Mathot Serge S Olenius Tinja T Ortega Ismael K IK Onnela Antti A Petäjä Tuukka T Praplan Arnaud A Rissanen Matti P MP Ruuskanen Taina T Santos Filipe D FD Schallhart Simon S Schnitzhofer Ralf R Simon Mario M Smith James N JN Tröstl Jasmin J Tsagkogeorgas Georgios G Tomé António A Vaattovaara Petri P Vehkamäki Hanna H Vrtala Aron E AE Wagner Paul E PE Williamson Christina C Wimmer Daniela D Winkler Paul M PM Virtanen Annele A Donahue Neil M NM Carslaw Kenneth S KS Baltensperger Urs U Riipinen Ilona I Curtius Joachim J Worsnop Douglas R DR Kulmala Markku M

Nature communications 20160520

The growth of freshly formed aerosol particles can be the bottleneck in their survival to cloud condensation nuclei. It is therefore crucial to understand how particles grow in the atmosphere. Insufficient experimental data has impeded a profound understanding of nano-particle growth under atmospheric conditions. Here we study nano-particle growth in the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoors Droplets) chamber, starting from the formation of molecular clusters. We present measured growth rates at sub-3 ...[more]

PMID: 27197574

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Project description:A list of authors and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper New-particle formation is a major contributor to urban smog1,2, but how it occurs in cities is often puzzling3. If the growth rates of urban particles are similar to those found in cleaner environments (1-10 nanometres per hour), then existing understanding suggests that new urban particles should be rapidly scavenged by the high concentration of pre-existing particles. Here we show, through experiments performed under atmospheric conditions in the CLOUD chamber at CERN, that below about +5 degrees Celsius, nitric acid and ammonia vapours can condense onto freshly nucleated particles as small as a few nanometres in diameter. Moreover, when it is cold enough (below -15 degrees Celsius), nitric acid and ammonia can nucleate directly through an acid-base stabilization mechanism to form ammonium nitrate particles. Given that these vapours are often one thousand times more abundant than sulfuric acid, the resulting particle growth rates can be extremely high, reaching well above 100 nanometres per hour. However, these high growth rates require the gas-particle ammonium nitrate system to be out of equilibrium in order to sustain gas-phase supersaturations. In view of the strong temperature dependence that we measure for the gas-phase supersaturations, we expect such transient conditions to occur in inhomogeneous urban settings, especially in wintertime, driven by vertical mixing and by strong local sources such as traffic. Even though rapid growth from nitric acid and ammonia condensation may last for only a few minutes, it is nonetheless fast enough to shepherd freshly nucleated particles through the smallest size range where they are most vulnerable to scavenging loss, thus greatly increasing their survival probability. We also expect nitric acid and ammonia nucleation and rapid growth to be important in the relatively clean and cold upper free troposphere, where ammonia can be convected from the continental boundary layer and nitric acid is abundant from electrical storms4,5.

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The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles.

Publications

The effect of acid-base clustering and ions on the growth of atmospheric nano-particles.

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