Atmospheric aerosols are complex mixtures of different chemical species, and individual particles exist in many different shapes and morphologies. Together, these characteristics contribute to the aerosol mixing state. This review provides an overview of measurement techniques to probe aerosol mixing state, discusses how aerosol mixing state is represented in atmospheric models at different scales, and synthesizes our knowledge of aerosol mixing state's impact on climate‐relevant properties, such as cloud condensation and ice nucleating particle concentrations, and aerosol optical properties. We present these findings within a framework that defines aerosol mixing state along with appropriate mixing state metrics to quantify it. Future research directions are identified, with a focus on the need for integrating mixing state measurements and modeling.

Acid-catalyzed reactions between gas-and particle-phase constituents are critical to atmospheric secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. The aerosol-phase state is thought to influence the reactive uptake of gas-phase precursors to aerosol particles by altering diffusion rates within particles. However, few experimental studies have explored the precise role of the aerosol-phase state on reactive uptake processes. This laboratory study systematically examines the reactive uptake coefficient (γ) of trans-β-isoprene epoxydiol (trans-β-IEPOX), the predominant IEPOX isomer, on acidic sulfate particles coated with SOA derived from α-pinene ozonolysis. γ IEPOX is obtained for core-shell particles, the morphology of which was confirmed by microscopy, as a function of SOA coating thickness and relative humidity. γ IEPOX is reduced, in some cases by half of the original value, when SOA coatings are present prior to uptake, especially when coating thicknesses are >15 nm. The diurnal trend of IEPOX lost to acid-catalyzed reactive uptake yielding SOA compared with other known atmospheric sinks (gas-phase oxidation or deposition) is derived by modeling the experimental coating effect with field data from the southeastern United States. IEPOX-derived SOA is estimated to be reduced by 16−27% due to preexisting organic coatings during the afternoon (12:00 to 7:00 p.m., local time), corresponding to the period with the highest level of production.

Atmospheric aerosol acidity is an important characteristic of aqueous particles, which has been linked to the formation of secondary organic aerosol by catalyzing reactions of oxidized organic compounds that have partitioned to the particle phase. However, aerosol acidity is difficult to measure and traditionally estimated using indirect methods or assumptions based on composition. Ongoing disagreements between experiments and thermodynamic models of particle acidity necessitate improved fundamental understanding of pH and ion behavior in high ionic strength atmospheric particles. Herein, Raman microspectroscopy was used to determine the pH of individual particles (H2SO4+MgSO4) based on sulfate and bisulfate concentrations determined from νs(SO4(2-)) and νs(HSO4(-)), the acid dissociation constant, and activity coefficients from extended Debye-Hückel calculations. Shifts in pH and peak positions of νs(SO4(2-)) and νs(HSO4(-)) were observed as a function of relative humidity. These results indicate the potential for direct spectroscopic determination of pH in individual particles and the need to improve fundamental understanding of ion behavior in atmospheric particles.

Atmospheric aerosol acidity impacts key multiphase processes, such as acid-catalyzed reactions leading to secondary organic aerosol formation, which impact climate and human health. However, traditional indirect methods of estimating aerosol pH often disagree with thermodynamic model predictions, resulting in aerosol acidity still being poorly understood in the atmosphere. Herein, a recently developed method coupling Raman microspectroscopy with extended Debye-Hückel activity calculations to directly determine the acidity of individual particles (1-15 μm projected area diameter, average 6 μm) was applied to a range of atmospherically relevant inorganic and organic acid-base equilibria systems (HNO/NO, HCO/CO, CHCOOH/CHCOO, and HCO/CO) covering a broad pH range (-1 to 10), as well as an inorganic-organic mixture (sulfate-oxalate). Given the ionic strength of the inorganic solutions, the H activity, γ(H), yielded lower values (0.68-0.75) than the organic and mixed systems (0.72-0.80). A consistent relationship between increasing peak broadness with decreasing pH was observed for acidic species, but not their conjugate bases. Greater insight into spectroscopic responses to acid-base equilibria for more complicated mixtures is still needed to understand the behavior of atmospheric aerosols.