Nature Communications (Mar 2021)

Photolytic radical persistence due to anoxia in viscous aerosol particles

  • Peter A. Alpert,
  • Jing Dou,
  • Pablo Corral Arroyo,
  • Frederic Schneider,
  • Jacinta Xto,
  • Beiping Luo,
  • Thomas Peter,
  • Thomas Huthwelker,
  • Camelia N. Borca,
  • Katja D. Henzler,
  • Thomas Schaefer,
  • Hartmut Herrmann,
  • Jörg Raabe,
  • Benjamin Watts,
  • Ulrich K. Krieger,
  • Markus Ammann

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21913-x
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Sunlight can change the composition of atmospheric aerosol particles, but the mechanisms through which this happens are not well known. Here, the authors show that fast radical reaction and slow diffusion near viscous organic particle surfaces can cause oxygen depletion, radical trapping and humidity dependent oxidation.