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Published on: September 9, 2022
"Effective" negative surface tension: a property of coated nanoaerosols relevant to the atmosphere
Purnendu Chakraborty1, Michael R Zachariah
1Department of Mechanical Engineering and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
Abstract:
Atmospheric aerosols play a very important role in atmospheric processes and have a major influence on the global climate. In this paper, we report results of a molecular dynamics study on the unique properties of organic-coated water droplets. In particular, we find that, for particles preferring an inverted micelle structure, the lower chain-chain interaction, with increasing radial distance from the water-organic interface, results in a negative internal radial pressure profile for the organic layer. As a result, a coated particle behaves as though the surface tension is "negative" and implies that such a particle will inherently have an inverse Kelvin vapor pressure effect, resulting in increased water condensation.
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