Interfaces of Gas-Aerosol Particles: Relative Humidity and Salt Concentration Effects

The growth of aerosol particles is intimately related to chemical reactions in gas phase, particle phase, and gas-aerosol particle interfaces. While the chemical reactions in gas phase and particle phase are well documented, interface-related information is lacking. The interface of gas-aerosol particles not only facilitates a physical channel for organic species to come in and go out, but also provides a necessary lane for culturing chemical reactions. The physical and chemical properties of the gas-particle interfaces have not been probed directly, not to mention chemical reactions at them. The main reason lies in the fact that there is a lack of suitable in-situ interface-sensitive analytical techniques for direct measurements of interfacial properties. The motivation behind this research was to understand how interface plays a role in the growth of aerosol particles. In this work, we developed in-situ interface-specific second harmonic scattering to examine interfacial behaviors of molecules of aeroso...