Mutual independence of water and n-nonane nucleation at low temperatures

The interaction of water with different substances in the earth's atmosphere lies at the heart of many processes that influence our climate. However, it is still unclear how different species interact with water on the molecular level and in which ways this interaction contributes to the water vapor phase transition. Here, we report the first measurements of water-nonane binary nucleation in the 50-110 K temperature range, along with unary nucleation data of both. The time-dependent cluster size distribution in a uniform post-nozzle flow was measured by time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with single-photon ionization. From these data, we extract experimental rates and rate constants for both nucleation and cluster growth. The observed mass spectra of water/nonane clusters are not or only slightly affected by the introduction of the other vapor, and the formation of mixed clusters was not observed during nucleation of the mixed vapor. Additionally, the nucleation rate of either substance is not much affected by the presence (or absence) of the other species, i.e., the nucleation of water and nonane proceeds independently, indicating that hetero-molecular clusters do not play a role during nucleation. Only at the lowest temperature of our experiment (i.e., 51 K) do the measurements suggest that interspecies interaction slows water cluster growth. The findings here are in contrast to our earlier work in which we showed that vapor components in other mixtures, e.g., CO2 and toluene/H2O, can interact to promote nucleation and cluster growth in a similar temperature range.

Automated summary

The interaction of water with different substances in the earth's atmosphere and its contribution to the water vapor phase transition is still unclear. This study provides the first measurements of water-nonane binary nucleation and unary nucleation data in the 50-110 K temperature range. The experiments show that hetero-molecular clusters do not play a role during nucleation, and the nucleation rates of water and nonane are not significantly affected by the presence of the other species.