Spectroscopy of aerosols and nanoparticles

气溶胶是气体中固体颗粒或液滴的悬浮物，在我们的世界乃至整个太阳系中无处不在。在地球上，每毫升空气中含有数千到数十万个颗粒，颗粒大小从亚纳米到许多微米不等。气溶胶对环境的影响是多种多样的，因为它们很重要，包括散射太阳辐射，成核的云滴，甚至健康问题，因为颗粒沉积在人体肺系统深处。气溶胶不仅在地球上，而且在其他行星和卫星上，在决定气候和整个气象周期方面起着至关重要的作用。然而，它们对气候和健康的影响总体上知之甚少。不确定性的一个主要来源是我们对气溶胶如何与光（包括太阳辐射）相互作用、它们如何从气相形成以及云滴如何冻结的基本理解不足。本建议从基本的物理化学角度解决这些核心问题。为此，我们开发了用于表征和监测气溶胶和纳米颗粒的新型仪器，并采用专门定制的理论方法对实验结果进行详细分析。拟议的研究将有助于更好地了解气溶胶对气候的影响、空气污染控制和颗粒分析。它将增加关键部门的高素质人员的培训机会，从而促进加拿大工业和学术界的竞争力。

Aerosols are suspensions of solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas, which are ubiquitous in our world and indeed throughout the solar system. On Earth, concentrations range from thousands to hundreds of thousands of particles per milliliter of air, with particle sizes from subnanometers to many microns. The environmental impacts of aerosols are as diverse as they are important, including scattering solar radiation, nucleating cloud droplets, and even health issues as particles deposit deep within the human pulmonary system. Aerosols play a crucial role in determining the climate and the overall meteorological cycle not only on Earth, but also on other planets and moons. Still their climate and health impacts are in general poorly understood. A large source of uncertainty arises from our insufficient fundamental understanding of how aerosols interact with light including solar radiation, how they form from the gas phase, and how cloud droplets freeze. This proposal addresses these central issues from a fundamental physical-chemical perspective. For that purpose, we develop novel instrumentation for the characterization and monitoring of aerosols and nanoparticles and employ specially tailored theoretical approaches for a detailed analysis of the experimental results. The proposed research will contribute to a better understanding of aerosol climate impacts, air pollution control, and particle analytics. It will enhance the training opportunities of highly qualified personnel in key sectors, thus contributing to the competitiveness of Canadian industry and academia.