Reactive Uptake and Photo-Fenton Oxidation of Glycolaldehyde in Aerosol Liquid Water

Abstract

The reactive uptake and aqueous oxidation of glycolaldehyde were examined in a photochemical flow reactor using hydrated ammonium sulfate (AS) seed aerosols at RH = 80%. The glycolaldehyde that partitioned into the aerosol liquid water was oxidized via two mechanisms that may produce aqueous OH: hydrogen peroxide photolysis (H_(2)O_(2) + hν) and the photo-Fenton reaction (Fe_(II) + H_(2)O_(2) + hν). The uptake of 80 (±10) ppb glycolaldehyde produced 2–4 wt % organic aerosol mass in the dark (k_(H)* = (2.09–4.17) × 10^6 M atm^(–1)), and the presence of an OH source increased the aqueous uptake by a factor of 4. Although the uptake was similar in both OH-aging mechanisms, photo-Fenton significantly increased the degree of oxidation (O/C = 0.9) of the aerosols compared to H_(2)O_(2) photolysis (O/C = 0.5). Aerosol organics oxidized by photo-Fenton and H_(2)O_(2) photolysis resemble ambient “aged” and “fresh” OA, respectively, after the equivalent of 2 h atmospheric aging. No uptake or changes in particle composition occurred on dry seed aerosol. This work illustrates that photo-Fenton chemistry efficiently forms highly oxidized organic mass in aerosol liquid water, providing a possible mechanism to bridge the gap between bulk-phase experiments and ambient particles.