Surfactant effect on cloud condensation nuclei for two‐component internally mixed aerosols

This work presents experimental data on the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of two‐component mixtures containing surfactants. Nine binary systems were tested combining strong ionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and nonionic surfactants (Zonyl FS‐300 and Triton X‐100) with nonsurfactant compounds...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres 2016-02, Vol.121 (4), p.1878-1895
Main Authors: Petters, Sarah Suda, Petters, Markus Dirk
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
aerosol‐cloud interactions
Ammonium
Ammonium compounds
Ammonium sulfate
Ammonium sulfates
Atmospheric aerosols
Chlorides
Chlorine compounds
Cloud condensation nuclei
Cloud droplets
Clouds
Condensation
Condensation nuclei
Droplets
Geophysics
Glucose
Inorganic compounds
Köhler theory
Mathematical models
Meteorology
Mixtures
Monomolecular films
Nonionic surfactants
Nucleus
organic aerosols
Particle shape
Partitioning
Sodium
Sodium chloride
Sodium dodecyl sulfate
Sodium lauryl sulfate
Solutes
Sulfates
Surface chemistry
Surface tension
surface‐bulk partitioning
Surfactants
Theories
Triton
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Summary:This work presents experimental data on the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity of two‐component mixtures containing surfactants. Nine binary systems were tested combining strong ionic (sodium dodecyl sulfate) and nonionic surfactants (Zonyl FS‐300 and Triton X‐100) with nonsurfactant compounds (glucose, ammonium sulfate, or sodium chloride). Control tests were performed for systems combining organic (glucose) and inorganic compounds (ammonium sulfate or sodium chloride). Results show that CCN activity deviates strongly relative to predictions made from measurements of bulk surface tension. Köhler theory accounting for surface tension reduction and surface partitioning underpredicts the CCN activity of particles containing Zonyl FS‐300 and Triton X‐100. Partitioning theory better describes data for Zonyl FS‐300 and Triton X‐100 when limiting surface adsorption to 1.5 monolayers of the growing drop. Deviations from predictions were observed. Likely explanations include solute‐solute interactions and nonspherical particle shape. The findings presented here examine in detail the perturbation of CCN activity by surfactants and may offer insight into both the success and limitations of physical models describing CCN activity of surface active molecules. Key Points New measurements of cloud droplet activation for strong nonionic surfactants CCN activity for Triton and Zonyl higher than predicted by partitioning theory CCN activity of internal mixtures is lower than predicted by ZSR mixing
ISSN:2169-897X
2169-8996
DOI:10.1002/2015JD024090