CAREER: Multi-Generational Aging of Atmospheric Organic Mixtures

这个CAREER项目侧重于大气有机气溶胶混合物中发生的长期化学变化。大气中的有机分子会对气候、空气质量、人类健康和环境产生重大影响。这项研究的目标之一是开发一种更准确的方法来估计随着气溶胶老化，在气溶胶和表面膜中停留在冷凝阶段的排放到大气中的碳的比例。了解慢老化反应的类型和程度是理解和预测大气气溶胶中碳混合物行为的关键。本研究的中心假设是，当有机混合物老化时，官能团的分布会发生变化，从而导致随后的吸积反应。该假设是基于该研究人员先前的工作，他发现a-蒎烯和食品烹饪有机气溶胶薄膜在长时间老化（数天至数周）后都显示出寡聚化的证据。本研究的目的是：(1)研究水蒸气对二次有机气溶胶多代老化的影响；(2)研究城市污垢成分的老化过程，包括食物烹饪有机气溶胶和环境表面膜；(3)通过与当地高中合作，培养与空气污染相关的学习经验，帮助吸引和留住大气科学的学生。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This CAREER project focuses on long-term chemical changes that take place in mixtures of atmospheric organic aerosol. Organic molecules in the atmosphere can have large impacts on climate, air quality, and on human health and the environment. One of the goals of this research is to develop a more accurate way to estimate the fraction of carbon emitted into the atmosphere that stays in the condensed phase, both in aerosol and in surface films, as the aerosol ages. Knowledge about the types and extents of slower aging reactions is key to understanding and predicting the behaviors of carbon mixtures in the atmospheric aerosols.The central hypothesis of this research is that when organic mixtures are aged, functional group distributions change, enabling subsequent accretion reactions. The hypothesis is based on prior work by this investigator who has found that both a-pinene and food cooking organic aerosol films show evidence of oligomerization with long aging times (days to weeks). The objectives of this research are to: (1) investigate the impact of water vapor on the multi-generational aging of secondary organic aerosol, (2) investigate the aging process for components of urban grime, including food cooking organic aerosol and ambient surface films, and (3) help attract and retain students in the atmospheric sciences by partnering with local high schools to develop learning experiences related to air pollution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.