Surfactants are often found to be associated with atmospheric particles. They can change the physicochemical properties of these particles, and thereby impact their chemical reactivity. However, their influences on heterogeneous reactions of atmospheric trace gases have not been paid much attention. In this study, the impacts of different surfactants on the heterogeneous conversion of SO2 on hematite were investigated by using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS), including cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and nonionic polyethylene glycol tert-octylphenyl ether (Triton X-100). Results indicated that heterogeneous reactivities of hematite-surfactant mixtures were significantly different due to the presence of different surfactants. Under dry conditions, heterogeneous reactivities decreased with the increase of their concentrations, but the higher reactivities were observed at an appropriate concentration range of CTAB and SDS when compared to pure hematite, showing their promoting effects at this concentration range. Under the condition of 58% relative humidity, the heterogeneous reactivities increased first and then decreased with the increasing mass fractions of CTAB and SDS, but pure hematite showed the highest reactivity. While the mixtures containing Triton X-100 had stronger ability to suppress sulfate formation under 58% RH than under dry condition, though these mixtures under 58% RH presented same trend as under dry condition. Water molecules can renew surface reactive sites and promote sulfate formation at an appropriate mass fraction of CTAB or SDS, water molecules can also promote the adsorption mode transition of Triton X-100 from adsorption through terminal OH groups to adsorption through ethoxyl groups, resulting in more surface active sites being covered and a drastically decrease in the reactivity. A possible mechanism for the impact of surfactants on the heterogeneous conversion of SO2 on hematite is proposed, and atmospheric implications based on these results are discussed.
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