Absolute Determination of the Temperature Behavior of the NO2 + NO3 +(M) ↔ N2O5 + (M) Equilibrium

Identifying Driving Factors of Atmospheric N2O5 with Machine Learning

Dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5) plays an essential role in tropospheric chemistry, serving as a nocturnal reservoir of reactive nitrogen and significantly promoting nitrate formations. However, identifying key environmental drivers of N2O5 formation remains challenging using traditional statistical methods, impeding effective emission control measures to mitigate NOx-induced air pollution. Here, we adopted machine learning assisted by steady-state analysis to elucidate the driving factors of N2O5 before and during the 2022 Winter Olympics (WO) in Beijing. Higher N2O5 concentrations were observed during the WO period compared to the Pre-Winter-Olympics (Pre-WO) period. The machine learning model accurately reproduced ambient N2O5 concentrations and showed that ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and relative humidity (RH) were the most important driving factors of N2O5. Compared to the Pre-WO period, the variation in trace gases (i.e., NO2 and O3) along with the reduced N2O5 uptake coefficient was the main reason for higher N2O5 levels during the WO period. By predicting N2O5 under various control scenarios of NOx and calculating the nitrate formation potential from N2O5 uptake, we found that the progressive reduction of nitrogen oxides initially increases the nitrate formation potential before further decreasing it. The threshold of NOx was approximately 13 ppbv, below which NOx reduction effectively reduced the level of night-time nitrate formations. These results demonstrate the capacity of machine learning to provide insights into understanding atmospheric nitrogen chemistry and highlight the necessity of more stringent emission control of NOx to mitigate haze pollution.

Interfacial carbonyl groups of propylene carbonate facilitate the reversible binding of nitrogen dioxide

The interaction of NO2 with organic interfaces is critical in the development of NO2 sensing and trapping technologies, and equally so to the atmospheric processing of marine and continental aerosol. Recent studies point to the importance of surface oxygen groups in these systems, however the role of specific functional groups on the microscopic level has yet to be fully established. In the present study, we aim to provide fundamental information on the interaction and potential binding of NO2 at atmospherically relevant organic interfaces that may also help inform innovation in NO2 sensing and trapping development. We then present an investigation into the structural changes induced by NO2 at the surface of propylene carbonate (PC), an environmentally relevant carbonate ester. Surface-sensitive vibrational spectra of the PC liquid surface are acquired before, during, and after exposure to NO2 using infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy (IRRAS). Analysis of vibrational changes at the liquid surface reveal that NO2 preferentially interacts with the carbonyl of PC at the interface, forming a distribution of binding symmetries. At low ppm levels, NO2 saturates the PC surface within 10 minutes and the perturbations to the surface are constant over time during the flow of NO2. Upon removal of NO2 flow, and under atmospheric pressures, these interactions are reversible, and the liquid surface structure of PC recovers completely within 30 min.

NOx Photooxidation over Different Noble Metals Modified TiO2

We compared the activity enhancement effect of noble metal deposited on TiO2 in photocatalytic nitrogen oxides oxidation. Titanium dioxide was decorated with Ag, Au, Pt or Pd in the sol-gel process. Synthesized catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurement (BET), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). All catalysts together with pure TiO2 obtained by sol-gel (SG) technique were tested for their photocatalytic activity towards nitrogen oxide oxidation (high concentrations of 50, 150 and 250 ppm). FTIR spectrometry was used to determine the gas phase composition and identify TiO2 surface species. The Ag0.1 sample turned out to be deactivated within 60 min of UV/Vis irradiation. Photocatalytic oxidation rate towards NO2 turned to be the highest over SG (photocatalyst without metal deposition). NO2 formation was also observed for Au0.1, Au0.5, Pt0.1, Pt0.5 and Pd0.1. The best NOx removal, i.e., conversion to final product HNO3 was obtained with the Au0.5 photocatalyst.

Catalysis of the Thermal Decomposition of Transition Metal Nitrate Hydrates by Poly(vinylidene difluoride)

Poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) doped with transition metal nitrate hydrates are cast into thin films giving a high β-phase content. Analysis of the thermal behavior of the doped PVDF shows that the decomposition of the metal (II) nitrate hydrates to metal (II) oxides is catalyzed by the PVDF, as evidenced by reduction in the decomposition temperature by as much as 170 °C compared to the pure metal salts. In contrast, there is little to no apparent catalysis for the decomposition of the metal (III) nitrate hydrates. The FTIR spectra of the gas phase decomposition products show H₂O and NO₂ are the major components for both PVDF-doped material and the pure metal nitrate hydrates. A mechanism for the role of PVDF is proposed that uses the internal electric field of the ferroelectric phase to orient the nitrate ions and polarize the N-O bonds.

Deep Oxidation of NO by a Hybrid System of Plasma-N-Type Semiconductors: High-Energy Electron-Activated "Pseudo Photocatalysis" Behavior

A "pseudo photocatalysis" process, being initiated between plasma and N-type semiconductors in the absence of light, was investigated for NO removal for the first time via dynamic probing of reaction processes by FT-IR spectra. It was demonstrated that N-type semiconductor catalysts could be activated to produce electron-hole (e^--h⁺) pairs by the collision of high-energy electrons (e*) from plasma. Due to the synergy of plasma and N-type semiconductors, major changes were noted in the conversion pathways and products. NO can be directly converted to NO₂^- and NO₃^- instead of toxic NO₂, owing to the formation of O₂^- and ·OH present in catalysts. New species like O₃ or ·O may be generated from the interaction between catalyst-induced species and radicals in plasma at a higher SIE, leading to deep oxidation of existing NO₂ to N₂O₅. Experiments with added trapping agents confirmed the contribution of e^- and h⁺ from catalysts. A series of possible reactions were proposed to describe reaction pathways and the mechanism of this synergistic effect. We established a novel system and realized an e*-activated "pseudo photocatalysis" behavior, facilitating the deep degradation of NO. We expect that this new strategy would provide a new idea for in-depth analysis of plasma-activated catalysis phenomenon.

Mechanisms and reaction pathways for simultaneous oxidation of NOx and SO₂ by ozone determined by in situ IR measurements

Ozone (O3) oxidation combined with wet scrubbing is a promising method for the simultaneous removal of SO2 and NOx in flue gas. In this study, the O3 oxidation processes of NO and SO2, as well as their coexistence, were investigated using an in situ IR spectrometer. Experimental results showed that the O3 concentration and the reaction temperature played critical roles in the O3 oxidation process of NO. Around 80°C, when inlet molar ratio of O3/NO was less than 1, NO was mainly oxidized to NO2, while when the ratio was greater than 1, NO would be further oxidized to NO3, N2O5, and HNO3. NO3 was the key intermediate product for the formation of N2O5 and HNO3. However, the subsequent reactions of NO3 were temperature dependence. With the increase of reaction temperature above 100°C, the concentration of NO2 increased whereas the concentrations of N2O5 and HNO3 decreased. The oxidation of SO2 by O3 was negligible and SO2 had little influence on the oxidation of NO in the simultaneous oxidation of NO and SO2. Finally, based on the in situ IR results, the oxidation mechanism is discussed and the reaction pathways are proposed.

FT-IR product study of the reactions of NO3 radicals with ortho-, meta-, and para-cresol

Product analyses of the NO3 radical-initiated oxidation of ortho-, meta-, and para-cresol have been performed in large-volume chamber systems at the University of Wuppertal (1080 L quartz glass reactor: QUAREC) and the European Photoreactor (EUPHORE), Valencia, Spain. The reaction of O3 with NO2 was used for the in situ generation of NO3 radicals in both QUAREC and EUPHORE. In the QUAREC experiments the gas-phase reaction of ortho-cresol isomer with NO3 yielded (11.5 ± 0.8) % 6-methyl-2-nitrophenol (6M2NP), (4.4 ± 0.3) % methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (MQUIN) and (77.2 ± 6.3) % HNO3. The reaction of NO3 radicals with meta-cresol yielded (21.2 ± 1.4) % 3-methyl-2-nitrophenol (3M2NP), (22.8 ± 1.8) % 3-methyl-4-nitrophenol (3M4NP), (23.5 ± 1.8) % 5-methyl-2-nitrophenol (5M2NP), (4.2 ± 0.7) % MQUIN and (72.3 ± 6.4) % HNO3. In the reaction of NO3 radicals with para-cresol, 4-methyl-2-nitrophenol (4M2NP) and HNO3 were identified as products with yields of (41.3 ± 3.7) % and (85.0 ± 10.2) %, respectively. In the EUPHORE chamber not all products were formed at levels above the detection limit, however, in cases where detection was possible similar product yields were observed. The product formation yields determined in both chambers are compared with available literature data and a gas-phase mechanism is proposed to explain the formation of the products observed from the reaction of NO3 and with cresol isomers.

Products and Mechanisms of the Reaction of Oleic Acid with Ozone and Nitrate Radical

The heterogeneous reactions of deposited, millimeter-sized oleic acid droplets with ozone and nitrate radicals are studied. Attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) are used for product identification and quantification. The condensed-phase products of the ozonolysis of oleic acid droplets are 1-nonanal (30 +/- 3% carbon yield), 9-oxononanoic acid (14 +/- 2%), nonanoic acid (7 +/- 1%), octanoic acid (1 +/- 0.2%), azelaic acid (6 +/- 3%), and unidentified products. The infrared spectra show that a major fraction of the unidentified products contain an ester group. Additionally, the mass spectra show that at least some of the unidentified products have molecular weights greater than 1000 amu, which implicates a polymerization reaction. The observed steps of 172 amu (9-oxononanoic acid) and 188 amu (azelaic acid Criegee intermediate) in the mass spectra suggest that these species are the monomers in the condensed-phase polymerization reactions. 9-Oxononanoic acid is proposed to lengthen the molecular chain via secondary ozonide formation; the azelaic acid Criegee intermediate links molecules units via ester formation (specifically, alpha-acyloxyalkyl hydroperoxides). For the reaction of oleic acid with nitrate radicals, functional groups including -ONO(2), -O(2)NO(2), and -NO(2) are observed in the infrared spectra, and high molecular weight molecules are formed. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) is employed to examine the hygroscopic properties of the oleic acid droplets before and after exposure to ozone or nitrate radical. After reaction, the droplets take up water at lower relative humidities compared to the unreacted droplets. The increased hygroscopic response may indicate that the oxidative aging of atmospheric organic aerosol particles has significant impact on radiative forcing.

Nitrate Radical Quantum Yield from Peroxyacetyl Nitrate Photolysis

Peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN, CH3C(O)OONO2) is a ubiquitous pollutant that is primarily destroyed by either thermal or photochemical mechanisms. We have investigated the photochemical destruction of PAN using a combination of laser pulsed photolysis and cavity ring-down spectroscopic detection of the NO3 photoproduct. We find that the nitrate radical quantum yield from the 289 nm photolysis of PAN is Phi(NO3)PAN = 0.31 +/- 0.08 (+/-2 sigma). The quantum yield is determined relative to that of dinitrogen pentoxide, which is assumed to be unity, under identical experimental conditions. The instrument design and experimental procedure are discussed as well as auxiliary experiments performed to further characterize the performance of the optical cavity and photolysis system.

The heterogeneous chemical kinetics of NO3 on atmospheric mineral dust surrogates

Uptake experiments of NO3 on mineral dust powder were carried out under continuous molecular flow conditions at 298 +/- 2 K using the thermal decomposition of N2O5 as NO3 source. In situ laser detection using resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) to specifically detect NO2 and NO in the presence of N2O5, NO3 and HNO3 was employed in addition to beam-sampling mass spectrometry. At [NO3] = (7.0 +/- 1.0) x 10(11) cm(-3) we found a steady state uptake coefficient gamma(ss) ranging from (3.4 +/- 1.6) x 10(-2) for natural limestone to (0.12 +/- 0.08) for Saharan Dust with gamma(ss) decreasing as [NO3] increased. NO3 adsorbed on mineral dust leads to uptake of NO2 in an Eley-Rideal mechanism that usually is not taken up in the absence of NO3. The disappearance of NO3 was in part accompanied by the formation of N2O5 and HNO3 in the presence of NO2. NO3 uptake performed on small amounts of Kaolinite and CaCO3 leads to formation of some N2O5 according to NO((3ads)) + NO(2(g)) --> N2O(5(ads)) --> N2O(5(g)). Slow formation of gas phase HNO3 on Kaolinite, CaCO3, Arizona Test Dust and natural limestone has also been observed and is clearly related to the presence of adsorbed water involved in the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O(5(ads)).

Dissociative electron attachment to dinitrogen pentoxide, N2O5

Electron attachment was studied in gaseous dinitrogen pentoxide, N(2)O(5), for incident electron energies between a few meV and 10 eV. No stable parent anion N(2)O(5) (-) was observed but several anionic fragments (NO(3) (-), NO(2) (-), NO(-), O(-), and O(2) (-)) were detected using quadrupole mass spectrometry. Many of these dissociative pathways were found to be coupled and provide detailed information on the dynamics of N(2)O(5) fragmentation. Estimates of the cross sections for production of each of the anionic fragments were made and suggest that electron attachment to N(2)O(5) is amongst the most efficient attachment reactions recorded for nonhalogenated polyatomic systems.

Nitration of 2'-deoxyguanosine by a NO/O2 gas mixture: identification and characterization of N2-nitro-2'-deoxyguanosine

[reaction: see text] A gas mixture of NO and O(2) was bubbled into 2'-deoxyguanosine solution at neutral pH and 37 degrees C. A novel nitrated nucleoside was generated in the reaction mixture in addition to 8-nitroguanine, 8-nitroxanthine, 2'-deoxyxanthosine, xanthine, and guanine. The novel nucleoside was identified as N(2)-nitro-2'-deoxyguanosine by spectrometric data.