Chemical composition of nanoparticles from α-pinene nucleation and the influence of isoprene and relative humidity at low temperature

  • Biogenic organic precursors play an important role in atmospheric new particle formation (NPF). One of the major precursor species is α-pinene, which upon oxidation can form a suite of products covering a wide range of volatilities. Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) comprise a fraction of the oxidation products formed. While it is known that HOMs contribute to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation, including NPF, they have not been well studied in newly formed particles due to their very low mass concentrations. Here we present gas- and particle-phase chemical composition data from experimental studies of α-pinene oxidation, including in the presence of isoprene, at temperatures (−50 and −30 ∘C) and relative humidities (20 % and 60 %) relevant in the upper free troposphere. The measurements took place at the CERN Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets (CLOUD) chamber. The particle chemical composition was analyzed by a thermal desorption differential mobility analyzer (TD-DMA) coupled to a nitrate chemical ionization–atmospheric pressure interface–time-of-flight (CI-APi-TOF) mass spectrometer. CI-APi-TOF was used for particle- and gas-phase measurements, applying the same ionization and detection scheme. Our measurements revealed the presence of C8−10 monomers and C18−20 dimers as the major compounds in the particles (diameter up to ∼ 100 nm). Particularly, for the system with isoprene added, C5 (C5H10O5−7) and C15 compounds (C15H24O5−10) were detected. This observation is consistent with the previously observed formation of such compounds in the gas phase. However, although the C5 and C15 compounds do not easily nucleate, our measurements indicate that they can still contribute to the particle growth at free tropospheric conditions. For the experiments reported here, most likely isoprene oxidation products enhance the growth of particles larger than 15 nm. Additionally, we report on the nucleation rates measured at 1.7 nm (J1.7 nm) and compared with previous studies, we found lower J1.7 nm values, very likely due to the higher α-pinene and ozone mixing ratios used in the present study.

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Author:Lucía Caudillo-PlathGND, Birte RörupORCiD, Martin HeinritziGND, Guillaume MarieORCiD, Mario SimonORCiD, Andrea C. WagnerORCiD, Tatjana Müller, Manuel GranzinORCiD, António AmorimGND, Farnoush AtaeiORCiD, Rima BaalbakiORCiD, Barbara BertozziORCiDGND, Zoé BrasseurORCiD, Randall Chiu, Biwu ChuORCiD, Lubna DadaORCiDGND, Jonathan DuplissyORCiD, Henning FinkenzellerORCiD, Loïc Gonzalez Carracedo, Xu-Cheng HeORCiD, Victoria Hofbauer, Weimeng KongORCiD, Houssni LamkaddamORCiD, Chuan P. Lee, Brandon Lopez, Naser G. A. MahfouzORCiD, Vladimir Makhmutov, Hanna E. ManninenORCiD, Ruby MartenORCiDGND, Dario MassabòORCiD, Roy L. MauldinORCiD, Bernhard MentlerORCiD, Ugo MolteniORCiDGND, Antti OnnelaORCiD, Joschka PfeiferORCiDGND, Maxim PhilippovORCiD, Ana A. PiedehierroORCiD, Meredith SchervishORCiD, Wiebke ScholzORCiD, Benjamin Schulze, Jiali ShenORCiD, Dominik StolzenburgORCiD, Ju. I. StožkovGND, Mihnea SurduORCiD, Christian TauberORCiD, Yee Jun ThamORCiD, Ping TianORCiD, António Tomé, Steffen VogtORCiDGND, Mingyi WangORCiD, Dongyu S. WangORCiD, Stefan K. WeberORCiD, André WeltiORCiDGND, Wang YonghongORCiD, Wu Yusheng, Marcel Zauner-WieczorekORCiDGND, Urs BaltenspergerORCiDGND, Imad El HaddadORCiDGND, Richard C. FlaganORCiDGND, Armin HanselORCiD, Kristina HöhlerORCiD, Jasper KirkbyORCiDGND, Markku KulmalaORCiDGND, Katrianne LehtipaloORCiDGND, Ottmar MöhlerORCiDGND, Harald SaathoffORCiDGND, Rainer VolkamerORCiDGND, Paul M. WinklerORCiD, Neil M. DonahueORCiDGND, Christoph Andreas KürtenORCiDGND, Joachim CurtiusORCiD
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-817186
DOI:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17099-2021
ISSN:1680-7324
Parent Title (English):Atmospheric chemistry and physics
Publisher:EGU
Place of publication:Katlenburg-Lindau
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2021/11/25
Date of first Publication:2021/11/25
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2024/02/12
Volume:21
Issue:22
Page Number:16
First Page:17099
Last Page:17114
Note:
This research has been supported by the European Commission, Research Executive Agency (grant no. CLOUD-MOTION (764991)), the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (grant no. CLOUD-16, 01LK1601A), the National Science Foundation (grant nos. AGS-1801280, AGS-1801574, and AGS-1801897), and the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (grant nos. 20020_172602 and BSSGI0_155846).

This open-access publication was funded by the Goethe University Frankfurt.
Institutes:Geowissenschaften / Geographie
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 53 Physik / 530 Physik
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 54 Chemie / 540 Chemie und zugeordnete Wissenschaften
5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - CC BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International