The interplay between aqueous replacement reaction and the phase state of internally mixed organic/ammonium aerosols

Abstract

Atmospheric secondary aerosols are often internally mixed with organic and inorganic components, particularly dicarboxylic acids, ammonium, sulfate, nitrate, and chloride. These complex compositions enable aqueous reaction between organic and inorganic species, significantly complicating aerosol phase behavior during aging and making phase predictions challenging. We investigated carboxylate–ammonium salt mixtures using attenuated total reflection Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The mono-, di-, and tricarboxylates included sodium pyruvate (SP), sodium tartrate (ST), and sodium citrate (SC), while the ammonium salts included NH4NO3, NH4Cl, and (NH4)2SO4. Our results demonstrated that aqueous replacement reactions between carboxylates and ammonium salts were promoted by the formation and depletion of NH3 as relative humidity (RH) changed. For SP/ammonium aerosols, NaNO3 and Na2SO4 crystallized from 35.7 % to 12.7 % and from 65.7 % to 60.1 % RH, respectively, which is lower than the values for pure inorganics (62.5 ± 9 %–32 % RH for NaNO3 and 82 ± 7 %–68 ± 5 % RH for Na2SO4). Upon hydration, the crystalline Na2SO4 and NaNO3 deliquesced at 88.8 %–95.2 % and 76.5 ± 2 %–81.9 %, which is higher than the values of pure Na2SO4 (74 ± 4 %–98 % RH) and NaNO3 (65 %–77.1 ± 3 % RH). In contrast, reaction between ST or SC and (NH4)2SO4 was incomplete due to the gel structure at low RH. Unexpectedly, aqueous Na2SO4 crystallized upon humidification in ST/(NH4)2SO4 particles at 43.6 % RH and then deliquesced with increasing RH. This is attributed to increased ion mobility in viscous particles, leading to nucleation and growth of Na2SO4 crystals. Our findings highlight the intricate interplay between chemical components within organic/inorganic aerosol and the impact of replacement reactions on aerosol aging, phase state, and subsequently atmospheric processes.