Journal Article
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 113, iss. 45, pp. 12643-12648, 2016
Authors
Pengfei Liu, Yong Jie Li, Yan Wang, Mary K. Gilles, Rahul A. Zaveri, Allan K. Bertram, Scot T. Martin
Abstract
Significance
Mass lability of atmospheric organic particulate matter, meaning its tendency to evaporate, is an important property in the mechanisms governing the climate and health effects. This property can be governed by both the volatility and the molecular diffusivity of the constituent organic species. An experimental approach presented herein highlights a nonlabile-to-labile transition at a threshold humidity for material representative of anthropogenic particulate matter. The behavior differs markedly from materials representing biogenic sources, which lack such a transition. Accounting for this transition in the interpretation of laboratory datasets collected at low relative humidity can potentially reduce discrepancies between modeled and observed concentrations of particulate matter in urban regions.
