lnstitut für Sensorik und Elektronik

Dauerhafte URI für die Sammlunghttps://irf.fhnw.ch/handle/11654/28068

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  • Publikation
    A mobile pollutant measurement laboratory - measuring gas phase and aerosol ambient concentrations with high spatial and temporal resolution
    (Elsevier, 12/2002) Bukowiecki, Nicolas; Dommen, Josef; Prévôt, André S.H.; Richter, Rene; Weingartner, Ernest; Baltensperger, Urs
    A mobile pollutant measurement laboratory was designed and built at the Paul Scherrer Institute (Switzerland) for the measurement of on-road ambient concentrations of a large set of trace gases and aerosol parameters with high time resolution (<15 s for most instruments), along with geographical and meteorological information. This approach allowed for pollutant level measurements both near traffic (e.g. in urban areas or on freeways/main roads) and at rural locations far away from traffic, within short periods of time and at different times of day and year. Such measurements were performed on a regular base during the project year of gas phase and aerosol measurements (YOGAM). This paper presents data measured in the Zürich (Switzerland) area on a late autumn day (6 November) in 2001. The local urban particle background easily reached 50 000 cmˉ³, with additional peak particle number concentrations of up to 400 000 cmˉ³. The regional background of the total particle number concentration was not found to significantly correlate with the distance to traffic and anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. On the other hand, this correlation was significant for the number concentration of particles in the size range 50–150 nm, indicating that the particle number concentration in this size range is a better traffic indicator than the total number concentration. Particle number size distribution measurements showed that daytime urban ambient air is dominated by high number concentrations of ultrafine particles (nanoparticles) with diameters < 50 nm, which are immediately formed by traffic exhaust and thus belong to the primary emissions. However, significant variation of the nanoparticle mode was also observed in number size distributions measured in rural areas both at daytime and nighttime, suggesting that nanoparticles are not exclusively formed by primary traffic emissions. While urban daytime total number concentrations were increased by a factor of 10 compared to the nighttime background, corresponding factors for total surface area and total volume concentrations were 2 and 1.5, respectively.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Evidence for the role of organics in aerosol particle formation under atmospheric conditions
    (National Academy of Sciences, 19.01.2010) Metzger, Axel; Verheggen, Bart; Dommen, Josef; Duplissy, Jonathan; Prévôt, André S.H.; Weingartner, Ernest; Riipinen, Ilona; Kulmala, Markku; Spracklen, Dominick V.; Carslaw, Kenneth S.; Baltensperger, Urs
    New particle formation in the atmosphere is an important parameter in governing the radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosols. However, detailed nucleation mechanisms remain ambiguous, as laboratory data have so far not been successful in explaining atmospheric nucleation. We investigated the formation of new particles in a smog chamber simulating the photochemical formation of H2SO4 and organic condensable species. Nucleation occurs at H2SO4 concentrations similar to those found in the ambient atmosphere during nucleation events. The measured particle formation rates are proportional to the product of the concentrations of H2SO4 and an organic molecule. This suggests that only one H2SO4 molecule and one organic molecule are involved in the rate-limiting step of the observed nucleation process. Parameterizing this process in a global aerosol model results in substantially better agreement with ambient observations compared to control runs.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Identification of organic acids in secondary organic aerosol and the corresponding gas phase from chamber experiments
    (American Chemical Society, 15.10.2004) Fisseha, Rebeka; Dommen, Josef; Sax, Mirjam; Paulsen, Dwane; Kalberer, Markus; Maurer, Rolf; Höfler, Frank; Weingartner, Ernest; Baltensperger, Urs
    Organic acids in the gas and aerosol phase from photooxidation of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene in the presence of 300 ppb propene and 300 ppb NOx in smog chamber experiments were determined using a wet effluent diffusion denuder/aerosol collector coupled to ion chromatography (IC) with conductivity detection. Behind the IC, the samples were collected using a fraction collector, for identification of unresolved/unidentified organic acids with IC-mass spectrometry (MS). In total, 20 organic acids were found with MS of which 10 were identified. The organic acids identified offline by IC-MS were then further quantified based on the online IC data. The identification was additionally confirmed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. At the maximum aerosol concentration, organic acids comprised 20-45% of the total aerosol mass. The method has a detection limit of 10-100 ng/m3 for the identified carboxylic acids.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Aerosol nucleation and growth in a mixture of sulfuric acid/alpha-pinene oxidation products at the CERN CLOUD chamber
    (AIP Publishing, 2013) Tröstl, Jasmin; Bianchi, Federico; Kürten, Andreas; Rondo, Linda; Simon, Mario; Sarnela, Nina; Jokinen, Tuija; Heinritzi, Martin; Dommen, Josef; Kirkby, Jasper; Weingartner, Ernest; Baltensperger, Urs; DeMott, Paul J.; O'Dowd, Colin D.
    The role of α-pinene in aerosol nucleation and growth was investigated using the CERN CLOUD chamber, a nano scanning mobility particle sizer (nanoSMPS) and several condensation particle counters (CPCs) with different diameter cut-offs. Different oxidation conditions for α-pinene - OH⋅ vs. ozone oxidation - were considered to investigate their contributions to particle nucleation and growth. Results from the latest CERN experiment from fall 2012 (CLOUD 7) are presented.
    04B - Beitrag Konferenzschrift
  • Publikation
    Laboratory observation of oligomers in the aerosol from isoprene/NOₓ photooxidation
    (Wiley, 2006) Dommen, Josef; Metzger, Axel; Duplissy, Jonathan; Kalberer, Markus; Alfarra, M. Rami; Gascho, Astrid; Weingartner, Ernest; Prévôt, André S.H.; Verheggen, Bart; Baltensperger, Urs
    Compounds assigned to be oxidation products of isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene) have recently been observed in ambient aerosols, suggesting that isoprene might play an important role in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation due to its large global source strength. SOA yields from photooxidation of isoprene and NOₓ in a chamber agree fairly well with previous data. Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry showed the formation of high molecular weight compounds over the course of 15-hour experiments. Concurrently, the volatility of the SOA decreased markedly as observed by a tandem differential mobility analyzer. The volume fraction remaining of SOA at 150°C increased steadily from 5 to 25% during the same experiments. These observations are attributed to oligomerization reactions occurring in the aerosol phase. Under dry conditions a lower volatility was observed.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Online gas and aerosol measurement of water soluble carboxylic acids in Zurich
    (Wiley, 2006) Fisseha, Rebeka; Dommen, Josef; Gäggeler, Kathrin; Weingartner, Ernest; Samburova, Vera; Kalberer, Markus; Baltensperger, Urs
    We discuss the diurnal and seasonal variability of low molecular weight organic acids in Zurich city on the basis of online quasi‐continuous measurement in the gas and aerosol phase using a wet effluent diffusion denuder/aerosol collector (WEDD/AC) coupled to ion chromatography. The measurements were performed during August–September 2002 and March 2003. Acetic acid exhibited the highest concentration in the gas phase during all the measurement periods, followed by formic acid. Oxalic acid was predominantly found in the aerosol phase and often below the detection limit in the gas phase. In addition, filter samples were analyzed using ion chromatography–mass spectrometry (IC‐MS) to provide more information on organic acids in the aerosol phase. From the offline IC‐MS measurements, 20 monocarboxylic, dicarboxylic, and tricarboxylic acids were determined. In addition, more than 20 different masses were detected with the MS; however, identification of the organic acids was not possible. The sum of the carboxylic acids contributed on average 2% to the water soluble organic carbon (WSOC). The fraction of dicarboxylic acids to the WSOC was higher in summer compared to winter suggesting that dicarboxylic acids are mainly a result of photochemical reactions in summer whereas in winter they mainly result from primary sources.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Cloud forming potential of secondary organic aerosol under near atmospheric conditions
    (Wiley, 2008) Duplissy, Jonathan; Gysel, Martin; Alfarra, M. Rami; Dommen, Josef; Metzger, Axel; Prévôt, André S.H.; Weingartner, Ernest; Laaksonen, Ari; Raatikainen, Tomi; Good, Nicholas; Turner, S. Fiona; McFiggans, Gordon; Baltensperger, Urs
    Cloud droplets form by nucleation on atmospheric aerosol particles. Populations of such particles invariably contain organic material, a major source of which is thought to be condensation of photo‐oxidation products of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We demonstrate that smog chamber studies of the formation of such biogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed during photo‐oxidation must be conducted at near atmospheric concentrations to yield atmospherically representative particle composition, hygroscopicity and cloud‐forming potential. Under these conditions, the hygroscopicity measured at 95% relative humidity can be used reliably to predict the CCN activity of the SOA particles by assuming droplet surface tension of pure water. We also show that the supersaturation required to activate a given size of particle decreases with age.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Secondary organic aerosols from anthropogenic and biogenic precursors
    (Royal Society of Chemistry, 2005) Baltensperger, Urs; Kalberer, Markus; Dommen, Josef; Paulsen, Dwane; Alfarra, M. Rami; Coe, Hugh; Fisseha, Rebeka; Gascho, Astrid; Gysel, Martin; Nyeki, Stephan; Sax, Mirjam; Steinbacher, Martin; Prévôt, André S.H.; Sjögren, Staffan; Weingartner, Ernest; Zenobi, Renato
    Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from the photooxidation of an anthropogenic (1,3,5-trimethylbenzene) and a biogenic (α-pinene) precursor was investigated at the new PSI smog chamber. The chemistry of the gas phase was followed by proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry, while the aerosol chemistry was investigated with aerosol mass spectrometry, ion chromatography, laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, and infrared spectroscopy, along with volatility and hygroscopicity studies. Evidence for oligomer formation for SOA from both precursors was given by an increasing abundance of compounds with a high molecular weight (up to 1000 Da) and by an increasing thermal stability with increasing aging time. The results were compared to data obtained from ambient aerosol samples, revealing a number of similar features.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Identification of polymers as major components of atmospheric organic aerosols
    (Springer, 2004) Kalberer, Markus; Paulsen, Dwane; Sax, Mirjam; Steinbacher, Martin; Dommen, Josef; Prévôt, André S.H.; Fisseha, Rebeka; Weingartner, Ernest; Frankevich, Vladimir; Zenobi, Renato; Baltensperger, Urs
    Results from photooxidation of aromatic compounds in a reaction chamber show that a substantial fraction of the organic aerosol mass is composed of polymers. This polymerization results from reactions of carbonyls and their hydrates. After aging for more than 20 hours, about 50% of the particle mass consists of polymers with a molecular mass up to 1000 daltons. This results in a lower volatility of this secondary organic aerosol and a higher aerosol yield than a model using vapor pressures of individual organic species would predict.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Secondary organic aerosol formation by irradiation of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene−NOₓ-H2O in a new reaction chamber for atmospheric chemistry and physics
    (American Chemical Society, 12.03.2005) Paulsen, Dwane; Dommen, Josef; Kalberer, Markus; Prévôt, André S.H.; Richter, René; Sax, Mirjam; Steinbacher, Martin; Weingartner, Ernest; Baltensperger, Urs
    A new environmental reaction smog chamber was built to simulate particle formation and growth similar to that expected in the atmosphere. The organic material is formed from nucleation of photooxidized organic compounds. The chamber is a 27 m³ fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) bag suspended in a temperature-controlled enclosure. Four xenon arc lamps (16 kW total) are used to irradiate primary gas components for experiments lasting up to 24 h. Experiments using irradiations of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene−NOₓ−H2O at similar input concentrations without seed particles were used to determine particle number and volume concentration wall loss rates of 0.209 ± 0.018 and 0.139 ± 0.070 1/h, respectively. The particle formation was compared with and without propene.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift