Articles | Volume 23, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10255-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10255-2023
Research article
 | 
14 Sep 2023
Research article |  | 14 Sep 2023

Influence of acidity on liquid–liquid phase transitions of mixed secondary organic aerosol (SOA) proxy–inorganic aerosol droplets

Yueling Chen, Xiangyu Pei, Huichao Liu, Yikan Meng, Zhengning Xu, Fei Zhang, Chun Xiong, Thomas C. Preston, and Zhibin Wang

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Cited articles

Bertram, A. K., Martin, S. T., Hanna, S. J., Smith, M. L., Bodsworth, A., Chen, Q., Kuwata, M., Liu, A., You, Y., and Zorn, S. R.: Predicting the relative humidities of liquid-liquid phase separation, efflorescence, and deliquescence of mixed particles of ammonium sulfate, organic material, and water using the organic-to-sulfate mass ratio of the particle and the oxygen-to-carbon elemental ratio of the organic component, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 10995–11006, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-10995-2011, 2011. 
Boyer, H. C., Gorkowski, K., and Sullivan, R. C.: In situ pH measurements of individual levitated microdroplets using aerosol optical tweezers, Anal. Chem., 92, 1089–1096, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.9b04152, 2020. 
Canagaratna, M. R., Jimenez, J. L., Kroll, J. H., Chen, Q., Kessler, S. H., Massoli, P., Hildebrandt Ruiz, L., Fortner, E., Williams, L. R., Wilson, K. R., Surratt, J. D., Donahue, N. M., Jayne, J. T., and Worsnop, D. R.: Elemental ratio measurements of organic compounds using aerosol mass spectrometry: characterization, improved calibration, and implications, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 253–272, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-253-2015, 2015. 
Ciobanu, V. G., Marcolli, C., Krieger, U. K., Weers, U., and Peter, T.: Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation in Mixed Organic/Inorganic Aerosol Particles, J. Phys. Chem. A, 113, 10966–10978, 2009. 
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Short summary
The impact of acidity on the phase transition behavior of levitated aerosol particles was examined. Our results revealed that lower acidity decreases the separation relative humidity of aerosol droplets mixed with ammonium sulfate and secondary organic aerosol proxy. Our research suggests that in real atmospheric conditions, with the high acidity found in many ambient aerosol particles, droplets encounter heightened impediments to phase separation and tend to display a homogeneous structure.
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