Articles | Volume 22, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13783-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13783-2022
ACP Letters
 | Highlight paper
 | 
01 Nov 2022
ACP Letters | Highlight paper |  | 01 Nov 2022

Not all types of secondary organic aerosol mix: two phases observed when mixing different secondary organic aerosol types

Fabian Mahrt, Long Peng, Julia Zaks, Yuanzhou Huang, Paul E. Ohno, Natalie R. Smith, Florence K. A. Gregson, Yiming Qin, Celia L. Faiola, Scot T. Martin, Sergey A. Nizkorodov, Markus Ammann, and Allan K. Bertram

Related authors

Measurement report: The Fifth International Workshop on Ice Nucleation phase 1 (FIN-01): intercomparison of single-particle mass spectrometers
Xiaoli Shen, David M. Bell, Hugh Coe, Naruki Hiranuma, Fabian Mahrt, Nicholas A. Marsden, Claudia Mohr, Daniel M. Murphy, Harald Saathoff, Johannes Schneider, Jacqueline Wilson, Maria A. Zawadowicz, Alla Zelenyuk, Paul J. DeMott, Ottmar Möhler, and Daniel J. Cziczo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10869–10891, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10869-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10869-2024, 2024
Short summary
Soot aerosols from commercial aviation engines are poor ice-nucleating particles at cirrus cloud temperatures
Baptiste Testa, Lukas Durdina, Peter A. Alpert, Fabian Mahrt, Christopher H. Dreimol, Jacinta Edebeli, Curdin Spirig, Zachary C. J. Decker, Julien Anet, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4537–4567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4537-2024, 2024
Short summary
Physicochemical properties of charcoal aerosols derived from biomass pyrolysis affect their ice-nucleating abilities at cirrus and mixed-phase cloud conditions
Fabian Mahrt, Carolin Rösch, Kunfeng Gao, Christopher H. Dreimol, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1285–1308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1285-2023, 2023
Short summary
Soot PCF: pore condensation and freezing framework for soot aggregates
Claudia Marcolli, Fabian Mahrt, and Bernd Kärcher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7791–7843, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7791-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7791-2021, 2021
Short summary
The role of contact angle and pore width on pore condensation and freezing
Robert O. David, Jonas Fahrni, Claudia Marcolli, Fabian Mahrt, Dominik Brühwiler, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9419–9440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9419-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9419-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Laboratory Studies | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Exometabolomic exploration of culturable airborne microorganisms from an urban atmosphere
Rui Jin, Wei Hu, Peimin Duan, Ming Sheng, Dandan Liu, Ziye Huang, Mutong Niu, Libin Wu, Junjun Deng, and Pingqing Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1805–1829, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1805-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1805-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement Report: Changes in ammonia emissions since the 18th century in south-eastern Europe inferred from an Elbrus (Caucasus, Russia) ice-core record
Michel Legrand, Mstislav Vorobyev, Daria Bokuchava, Stanislav Kutuzov, Andreas Plach, Andreas Stohl, Alexandra Khairedinova, Vladimir Mikhalenko, Maria Vinogradova, Sabine Eckhardt, and Susanne Preunkert
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1385–1399, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1385-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1385-2025, 2025
Short summary
Atmospheric oxidation of 1,3-butadiene: influence of seed aerosol acidity and relative humidity on SOA composition and the production of air toxic compounds
Mohammed Jaoui, Klara Nestorowicz, Krzysztof J. Rudzinski, Michael Lewandowski, Tadeusz E. Kleindienst, Julio Torres, Ewa Bulska, Witold Danikiewicz, and Rafal Szmigielski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1401–1432, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1401-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1401-2025, 2025
Short summary
Enhanced sulfate formation in mixed biomass burning and sea-salt interactions mediated by photosensitization: effects of chloride, nitrogen-containing compounds, and atmospheric aging
Rongzhi Tang, Jialiang Ma, Ruifeng Zhang, Weizhen Cui, Yuanyuan Qin, Yangxi Chu, Yiming Qin, Alexander L. Vogel, and Chak K. Chan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 425–439, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-425-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-425-2025, 2025
Short summary
Heterogeneous formation and light absorption of secondary organic aerosols from acetone photochemical reactions: remarkably enhancing effects of seeds and ammonia
Si Zhang, Yining Gao, Xinbei Xu, Luyao Chen, Can Wu, Zheng Li, Rongjie Li, Binyu Xiao, Xiaodi Liu, Rui Li, Fan Zhang, and Gehui Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 14177–14190, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14177-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-14177-2024, 2024
Short summary

Cited articles

Aiken, A. C., DeCarlo, P. F., and Jimenez, J. L.: Elemental Analysis of Organic Species with Electron Ionization High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem., 79, 8350–8358, https://doi.org/10.1021/ac071150w, 2007. 
Allan, J. D., Jimenez, J. L., Williams, P. I., Alfarra, M. R., Bower, K. N., Jayne, J. T., Coe, H., and Worsnop, D. R.: Quantitative sampling using an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer 1. Techniques of data interpretation and error analysis, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 108, 4090, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002JD002358, 2003. 
Anttila, T., Kiendler-Scharr, A., Mentel, T. F., and Tillmann, R.: Size dependent partitioning of organic material: evidence for the formation of organic coatings on aqueous aerosols, J. Atmos. Chem., 57, 215–237, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-007-9067-9, 2007. 
Baltensperger, U., Dommen, J., Alfarra, R., Duplissy, J., Gaeggeler, K., Metzger, A., Facchini, M. C., Decesari, S., Finessi, E., Reinnig, C., Schott, M., Warnke, J., Hoffmann, T., Klatzer, B., Puxbaum, H., Geiser, M., Savi, M., Lang, D., Kalberer, M., and Geiser, T.: Combined determination of the chemical composition and of health effects of secondary organic aerosols: The POLYSOA project, J. Aerosol Med. Pulm. D., 21, 145–154, https://doi.org/10.1089/jamp.2007.0655, 2008. 
Download
Executive editor
Organic aerosol remain one of the more complex and hard to predict when studying atmospheric aerosols and their influences on air quality, meteorology and climate. Among its many complexities is the phase and viscosity of the organic matter, which dictates how it interacts with other particulate components and the gas phase, in turn affecting growth rates and cloud activation. There have been a number of previous works studying phase separation, where the organic matter becomes immiscible with an aqueous component (containing inorganic salts), but this new letter presents compelling visual evidence that different organic phases are also capable of separation. Different secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mixtures were created and some mixtures exhibited separation, with a factor being the oxygen-to-carbon ratio of the material, likely a surrogate for polarity. If this behaviour is found to be important in atmospheric aerosols this represents a new direction in how these may need to be represented in models.
Short summary
The number of condensed phases in mixtures of different secondary organic aerosol (SOA) types determines their impact on air quality and climate. Here we observe the number of phases in individual particles that contain mixtures of two different types of SOA. We find that SOA mixtures can form one- or two-phase particles, depending on the difference in the average oxygen-to-carbon (O / C) ratios of the two SOA types that are internally mixed within individual particles.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint