Hygroscopicity and mass transfer limit of mixed glutaric acid/MgSO4/water particles

Tropospheric aerosols are usually complex mixtures of inorganic and organic components, which show non-ideal behavior in hygroscopicity, mass transfer, and partitioning between gas and aerosols. In this study, we applied a novel approach based on a combination of a pulse RH controlling system and a rapid scan vacuum FTIR spectrometer to investigate the mass transfer limit of magnesium sulfate/glutaric acid (GA) mixture aerosol particles. The liquid water band area of the aerosols is used to reveal the mass transfer limit during the rapid pulse RH downward and upward processes. Partitioning equilibrium between the aerosol particles and water gas phase is observed at the higher RH range (73–50%). When the RH is lower than 40%, there is a hysteresis for the liquid water content changing with the RH, indicating the limited water mass transfer in the aerosols.