American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 38th Annual Conference
October 5 - October 9, 2020

Virtual Conference

Abstract View


Solvent-modulated Effects on the Physical Properties of Secondary Organic Aerosol Mimicking Solutions

Emmaline Longnecker, Rebecca Miller, Lucy Metz, Tracy Rompich, ANDREW BERKE, Smith College

     Abstract Number: 387
     Working Group: Aerosol Chemistry

Abstract
The kinetics of light-absorbing compounds and physical properties of secondary organic aerosol mimicking solutions are substantively affected by the surrounding solvent environment. We have found that alcohols perturb this chemical system in species- and concentration-dependent ways. Our present work explores the role that alcohol solutes have on organization, and physical properties, within the solvent using a technique we developed. We freeze tubes of ammonium sulfate-based solvent and then monitor stratification using infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR). We find that the sign of the octanol-water partitioning coefficient of the added solute controls whether the resultant solution will stratify or not. We then add components of the chemical system and show how this solvent environment can help explain previous kinetics results.