Water uptake of internally mixed ammonium sulfate and dicarboxylic acid particles probed by infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

Tropospheric aerosols are usually mixtures of inorganic and organic compounds in variable proportions, and the relative amount of organic fraction can influence the hygroscopic properties of the particles. Infrared spectra of submicrometer internally mixed dry particles of ammonium sulfate (AS) with various dicarboxylic acids (oxalic, malonic, maleic, glutaric and pimelic) have been measured in an aerosol flow tube at several solute mass ratios. The spectra show a notable broadening in the bandwidth of sulfate ion ν3 vibrational band near 1115 cm−1 with respect to pure AS. We attribute these perturbations, that are biggest at AS/organic acid mass ratio near unity, to intermolecular interactions between inorganic ions and organic acid molecules in the internally mixed solids. The water uptake behavior of internally mixed particles has been measured by recording the infrared integrated absorbance of liquid water as a function of relative humidity (RH). The amount of water present in the particles prior to deliquescence correlates partially with the water solubilities of the dicarboxylic acids, and also with the relative magnitudes of intermolecular interactions in the internally mixed dry solids. Phase change of ammonium sulfate in the internally mixed particles with RH has been spectrally monitored, and it is shown that water uptaken before full deliquescence produces structural changes in the particles that are revealed by their vibrational spectra.