Measurements of the HO2 Uptake Coefficients onto Single Component Organic Aerosols

Measurements of HO2 uptake coefficients (gamma) were made onto a variety of organic aerosols derived from glutaric acid, glyoxal, malonic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, squalene, monoethanol amine sulfate, monomethyl amine sulfate, and two sources of humic acid, for an initial HO2 concentration of 1 x 10(9) molecules cm(-3), room temperature and at atmospheric pressure. Values in the range of gamma < 0.004 to gamma = 0.008 +/- 0.004 were measured for all of the aerosols apart from the aerosols from the two sources of humic acid. For humic acid aerosols, uptake coefficients in the range of gamma = 0.007 +/- 0.002 to gamma = 0.09 +/- 0.03 were measured. Elevated concentrations of copper (16 +/- 1 and 380 +/- 20 ppb) and iron (600 +/- 30 and 51 000 +/- 3000 ppb) ions were measured in the humic acid atomizer solutions compared to the other organics that can explain the higher uptake values measured. A strong dependence upon relative humidity was also observed for uptake onto humic acid, with larger uptake coefficients seen at higher humidities. Possible hypotheses for the humidity dependence include the changing liquid water content of the aerosol, a change in the mass accommodation coefficient or in the Henrys law constant.