Abstract. In atmospheric sulfuric-acid-driven particle formation, bases are able to stabilize the initial molecular clusters and thus enhance particle formation. The enhancing potential of a stabilizing base is affected by different factors, such as the basicity and abundance. Here we use weak (ammonia), medium strong (dimethylamine) and very strong (guanidine) bases as representative atmospheric base compounds, and we systematically investigate their ability to stabilize sulfuric acid clusters. Using quantum chemistry, we study proton transfer as well as intermolecular interactions and symmetry in clusters, of which the former is directly related to the base strength and the latter to the structural effects. Based on the theoretical cluster stabilities and cluster population kinetics modeling, we provide molecular-level mechanisms of cluster growth and show that in electrically neutral particle formation, guanidine can dominate formation events even at relatively low concentrations. However, when ions are involved, charge effects can also stabilize small clusters for weaker bases. In this case the atmospheric abundance of the bases becomes more important, and thus ammonia is likely to play a key role. The theoretical findings are validated by cluster distribution experiments, as well as comparisons to previously reported particle formation rates, showing a good agreement.
more »
« less
Molecular properties affecting the hydration of acid–base clusters
In the atmosphere, water in all phases is ubiquitous and plays important roles in catalyzing atmospheric chemical reactions, participating in cluster formation and affecting the composition of aerosol particles. Direct measurements of water-containing clusters are limited because water is likely to evaporate before detection, and therefore, theoretical tools are needed to study hydration in the atmosphere. We have studied thermodynamics and population dynamics of the hydration of different atmospherically relevant base monomers as well as sulfuric acid–base pairs. The hydration ability of a base seems to follow in the order of gas-phase base strength whereas hydration ability of acid–base pairs, and thus clusters, is related to the number of hydrogen binding sites. Proton transfer reactions at water–air interfaces are important in many environmental and biological systems, but a deeper understanding of their mechanisms remain elusive. By studying thermodynamics of proton transfer reactions in clusters containing up to 20 water molecules and a base molecule, we found that that the ability of a base to accept a proton in a water cluster is related to the aqueous-phase basicity. We also studied the second deprotonation reaction of a sulfuric acid in hydrated acid–base clusters and found that sulfate formation is most favorable in the presence of dimethylamine. Molecular properties related to the proton transfer ability in water clusters are discussed.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1710580
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10309303
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 23
- ISSN:
- 1463-9076
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
null (Ed.)Abstract. Acid–base clusters and stable salt formation are critical drivers of new particle formation events in the atmosphere. In this study, we explore salt heterodimer (a cluster of one acid and one base) stability as a function of gas-phase acidity, aqueous-phase acidity, heterodimer proton transference, vapor pressure, dipole moment and polarizability for salts comprised of sulfuric acid, methanesulfonic acid and nitric acid with nine bases. The best predictor of heterodimer stability was found to be gas-phase acidity. We then analyzed the relationship between heterodimer stability and J4×4, the theoretically predicted formation rate of a four-acid, four-base cluster, for sulfuric acid salts over a range of monomer concentrations from 105 to 109 molec cm−3 and temperatures from 248 to 348 K and found that heterodimer stability forms a lognormal relationship with J4×4. However, temperature and concentration effects made it difficult to form a predictive expression of J4×4. In order to reduce those effects, heterodimer concentration was calculated from heterodimer stability and yielded an expression for predicting J4×4 for any salt, given approximately equal acid and base monomer concentrations and knowledge of monomer concentration and temperature. This parameterization was tested for the sulfuric acid–ammonia system by comparing the predicted values to experimental data and was found to be accurate within 2 orders of magnitude. We show that one can create a simple parameterization that incorporates the dependence on temperature and monomer concentration on J4×4 by defining a new term that we call the normalized heterodimer concentration, Φ. A plot of J4×4 vs. Φ collapses to a single monotonic curve for weak sulfate salts (difference in gas-phase acidity >95 kcal mol−1) and can be used to accurately estimate J4×4 within 2 orders of magnitude in atmospheric models.more » « less
-
How secondary aerosols form is critical as aerosols' impact on Earth's climate is one of the main sources of uncertainty for understanding global warming. The beginning stages for formation of prenucleation complexes, that lead to larger aerosols, are difficult to decipher experimentally. We present a computational chemistry study of the interactions between three different acid molecules and two different bases. By combining a comprehensive search routine covering many thousands of configurations at the semiempirical level with high level quantum chemical calculations of approximately 1000 clusters for every possible combination of clusters containing a sulfuric acid molecule, a formic acid molecule, a nitric acid molecule, an ammonia molecule, a dimethylamine molecule, and 0–5 water molecules, we have completed an exhaustive search of the DLPNO-CCSD(T)/CBS//ωB97X-D/6-31++G** Gibbs free energy surface for this system. We find that the detailed geometries of each minimum free energy cluster are often more important than traditional acid or base strength. Addition of a water molecule to a dry cluster can enhance stabilization, and we find that the (SA)(NA)(A)(DMA)(W) cluster has special stability. Equilibrium calculations of SA, FA, NA, A, DMA, and water using our quantum chemical Δ G ° values for cluster formation and realistic estimates of the concentrations of these monomers in the atmosphere reveals that nitric acid can drive early stages of particle formation just as efficiently as sulfuric acid. Our results lead us to believe that particle formation in the atmosphere results from the combination of many different molecules that are able to form highly stable complexes with acid molecules such as SA, NA, and FA.more » « less
-
Abstract. Size distributions of particles formed from sulfuric acid(H2SO4) and water vapor in a photolytic flow reactor (PhoFR) weremeasured with a nanoparticle mobility sizing system. Experiments with addedammonia and dimethylamine were also performed. H2SO4(g) wassynthesized from HONO, sulfur dioxide and water vapor, initiating OHoxidation by HONO photolysis. Experiments were performed at 296 K over arange of sulfuric acid production levels and for 16 % to 82 % relativehumidity. Measured distributions generally had a large-particle mode thatwas roughly lognormal; mean diameters ranged from 3 to 12 nm and widths(lnσ) were ∼0.3. Particle formation conditions werestable over many months. Addition of single-digit pmol mol−1 mixing ratios ofdimethylamine led to very large increases in particle number density.Particles produced with ammonia, even at 2000 pmol mol−1, showed that NH3is a much less effective nucleator than dimethylamine. A two-dimensionalsimulation of particle formation in PhoFR is also presented that starts withgas-phase photolytic production of H2SO4, followed by kineticformation of molecular clusters and their decomposition, which is determined by theirthermodynamics. Comparisons with model predictions of the experimentalresult's dependency on HONO and water vapor concentrations yieldphenomenological cluster thermodynamics and help delineate the effects ofpotential contaminants. The added-base simulations and experimental resultsprovide support for previously published dimethylamine–H2SO4cluster thermodynamics and provide a phenomenological set ofammonia–sulfuric acid thermodynamics.more » « less
-
Isoprene is one of the most common biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) in the atmosphere, produced by many plants. Isoprene undergoes oxidation to form gaseous isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) under low-NOx conditions, which can lead to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles. SOA-containing particles affect climate by scattering and absorbing solar radiation or acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). High concentrations of SOA are also associated with adverse health impacts in people. While in the atmosphere, IEPOX SOA particles continue to undergo reactions with atmospheric oxidants, including hydroxyl radical (OH). To isolate and probe this process, we studied atmospheric chemical processes in an aerosol chamber to better understand the evolution of heterogeneous OH oxidation of IEPOX-derived SOA particles. Since very little is understood about the structural and spectroscopic properties because of the complexity of their many sources and atmospheric processing, individual particle measurements are necessary to provide better understanding of the composition of IEPOX SOA. We injected particles composed of mixtures of ammonium sulfate and sulfuric acid across a range of acidities(PH = 0.5 – 2.5) and gas-phase IEPOX into the chamber to generate SOA. The SOA particles were then sent to an oxidation flow reactor, and exposed to different OH concentrations representative of aging of a number of days. We kept relative humidity (RH) constant at ~65%, the temperature was ~23 °C, and levels of oxidation were controlled by adjusting lamp intensity. After oxidized SOA was impacted on quartz substrates, we used single-particle Raman microspectroscopy to identify their functional group compositions. From the Raman vibrational spectra of submicron particles (~500-1000 nm aerodynamic diameter), we observed a distinct difference in core-shell morphology and composition: an organic outer layer and an aqueous-inorganic core. The core also has significantly more CH-stretch than the shell. Small changes were also observed with increasing oxidation, which are important to consider when predicting SOA particle evolution in the atmosphere.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d1cp01704g
