Progress in the Analysis of Complex Atmospheric Particles.
This article presents an overview of recent advances in field and laboratory studies of atmospheric particles formed in processes of environmental air-surface interactions. The overarching goal of these studies is to advance predictive understanding of atmospheric particle composition, particle chemistry during aging, and their environmental impacts. The diversity between chemical constituents and lateral heterogeneity within individual particles adds to the chemical complexity of particles and their surfaces. Once emitted, particles undergo transformation via atmospheric aging processes that further modify their complex composition. We highlight a range of modern analytical approaches that enable multimodal chemical characterization of particles with both molecular and lateral specificity. When combined, these approaches provide a comprehensive arsenal of tools for understanding the nature of particles at air-surface interactions and their reactivity and transformations with atmospheric aging. We discuss applications of these novel approaches in recent studies and highlight additional research areas to explore the environmental effects of air-surface interactions.
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354; email: alexander.laskin@pnnl.gov.
Alexander
A
Laskin
Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720.
Mary K
MK
Gilles
Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York 11794.
Daniel A
DA
Knopf
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354; email: alexander.laskin@pnnl.gov.
Bingbing
B
Wang
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354; email: alexander.laskin@pnnl.gov.
Swarup
S
China
aerosol; atmospheric aging; chemical imaging; environmental interfaces; molecular-level; multiphase chemistry