The condensation particle counter battery (CPCB): A new tool to investigate the activation properties of nanoparticles

Autor(en)

Markku Kulmala, G Mordas, Tuukka Petäjä, T Grönholm, Pasi P Aalto, H Vehkamäki, A. I. Hienola, Erik Herrmann, Mikko Sipilä, I Riipinen, Hanna E. Manninen, Kaarle Hämeri, Frank Stratmann, Merete Bilde, Paul Winkler, Wolfram Birmili, Paul Wagner

Abstrakt

The formation and growth of fresh atmospheric aerosol particles was investigated using a condensation particle counter battery (CPCB). This instrument is a matrix of four separate CPCs, which differ in the combination of both cut-off size and working liquid (water; n-butanol). In a first step, the CPC counting efficiencies and cut-off sizes were carefully characterised under laboratory conditions for different condensing vapours, temperature differences between condenser and saturator, and test aerosol types. In addition, the activation process was described theoretically, and modelled numerically for the given CPC configurations. These results confirmed that water-soluble and water-insoluble as well as butanol-soluble and butanol-insoluble aerosol particles may be discriminated in the CPCB through different activation diameters. Therefore, the CPCB represents a novel tool to infer information on the chemical composition of aerosol particles between 2 and 20 nm. To test the applicability of the CPCB under field conditions, the CPCB was operated at a rural background station in Finland (Hyytiälä) in April and May 2005. The results indicate that growing nucleation mode particles were water-soluble both at 3 and 11 nm.

Organisation(en)

Aerosolphysik und Umweltphysik

Externe Organisation(en)

University of Helsinki, Leibniz-Institut für Troposphärenforschung, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)

Journal

Journal of Aerosol Science

Band

38

Seiten

289-304

Anzahl der Seiten

16

ISSN

0021-8502

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2006.11.008

Publikationsdatum

2007

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103020 Oberflächenphysik, 210006 Nanotechnologie, 105904 Umweltforschung

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/e5d1bc57-b1b0-4f54-9b26-f989122574d6