AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Investigation of the Reactivity of Model and Genuine Organic Surface Layers in the Indoor Environment
SHOUMING ZHOU, Matthew Forbes, Jonathan Abbatt, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Abstract Number: 205 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract It is well known that indoor surfaces are covered by inorganic materials and semi-volatile organics arising from gas-surface partitioning and deposition of aerosol particles. However, it is not known how reactive this organic surface layer is under typical indoor environments. Given that these substances can be transferred to humans through dermal contact, inhalation or by hand-to-mouth ingestion, it is important to understand the reactivity of the organic surface layer as a function of indoor environmental conditions.
In this work, we present results from the heterogeneous ozone reactivity of organic surfaces layers that develop indoors, in both laboratory and residential settings, and from model surfaces comprised of a reactive PAH in a variety of organic matrices. The chemical composition of the organic surface layers is determined by direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry (DART-MS). Reactivity to gas-phase ozone is established by exposing the organic layers to ozone using glass flow tubes. The effects of typical indoor environmental conditions, e.g. the relative humidity and light, on the reactivity will be investigated.