Water Uptake and Hygroscopic Growth of Organosulfate Aerosol

Organosulfates (OS) are important components of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) that have been identified in numerous field studies. This class of compounds within SOA can potentially affect aerosol physicochemical properties such as hygroscopicity because of their polar and hydrophilic nature as well as their low volatility. Currently, there is a dearth of information on how aerosol particles that contain OS interact with water vapor in the atmosphere. Herein we report a laboratory investigation on the hygroscopic properties of a structurally diverse set of OS salts at varying relative humidity (RH) using a Hygroscopicity-Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (H-TDMA). The OS studied include the potassium salts of glycolic acid sulfate, hydroxyacetone sulfate, 4-hydroxy-2,3-epoxybutane sulfate, and 2-butenediol sulfate and the sodium salts of benzyl sulfate, methyl sulfate, ethyl sulfate, and propyl sulfate. In addition, mixtures of OS and sodium chloride were also studied. The results showed gradual deliquescence of these aerosol particles characterized by continuous uptake and evaporation of water in both hydration and dehydration processes for the OS, while the mixture showed prompt deliquescence and effloresce transitions, albeit at a lower relative humidity relative to pure sodium chloride. Hygroscopic growth of these OS at 85% RH were also fit to parameterized functional forms. This new information provided here has important implications about the atmospheric lifetime, light scattering properties, and the role of OS in cloud formation. Moreover, results of these studies can ultimately serve as a basis for the development and evaluation of thermodynamic models for these compounds in order to consider their impact on the atmosphere.