Interfacial Tensions of Aged Organic Aerosol Particle Mimics Using a Biphasic Microfluidic Platform

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles are a major component of atmospheric particulate matter, yet their formation processes and ambient properties are not well understood. These complex particles often contain multiple interfaces due to internal aqueous- and organic-phase partitioning. Aerosol interfaces can profoundly affect the fate of condensable organic compounds emitted into the atmosphere by altering the way in which ambient organic vapors interact with suspended particles. To accurately predict the evolution of SOA in the atmosphere, we must improve our understanding of aerosol interfaces. In this work, biphasic microscale flows are used to measure interfacial tension of reacting methylglyoxal, formaldehyde, and ammonium sulfate aqueous mixtures with a surrounding oil phase. Our experiments show a suppression of interfacial tension as a function of organic content that remains constant with reaction time for methylglyoxal-ammonium sulfate systems. We also reveal an unexpected time dependence of interfacial tension over a period of 48 h for ternary solutions of both methylglyoxal and formaldehyde in aqueous ammonium sulfate, indicating a more complicated behavior of surface activity where there is competition among dissolved organics. From these interfacial tension measurements, the morphology of aged atmospheric aerosols with internal liquid-liquid phase separation is inferred.

Solid Ammonium Sulfate Aerosols as Ice Nuclei: A Pathway for Cirrus Cloud Formation

Laboratory measurements support a cirrus cloud formation pathway involving heterogeneous ice nucleation by solid ammonium sulfate aerosols. Ice formation occurs at low ice-saturation ratios consistent with the formation of continental cirrus and an interhemispheric asymmetry observed for cloud onset. In a climate model, this mechanism provides a widespread source of ice nuclei and leads to fewer but larger ice crystals as compared with a homogeneous freezing scenario. This reduces both the cloud albedo and the longwave heating by cirrus. With the global ammonia budget dominated by agricultural practices, this pathway might further couple anthropogenic activity to the climate system.