Time-resolved
photoelectric activity of aerosol (TPEAA) experiments
measure the kinetics of photochemically initiated reactions near the
surface of aerosol particles. In the demonstration presented here,
TPEAA experiments monitor the evolution of excited triplet states,
which are key intermediates in the photochemical formation of secondary
organic aerosol (SOA). One example is the decay of the triplet excited
state of imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde (IC) in aqueous NaCl aerosol particles.
The decay of the triplet IC shows two distinct timescales, indicative
of two populations of IC in the particles: aqueous and pure IC. The
lifetime in the pure-IC phase is less than 20 ns, and the lifetime
associated with aqueous IC is limited by reaction with chloride ions
(k = 5.6 × 105 M–1 s–1). The results demonstrate how phase separation
in aerosol particles can control reaction pathways and kinetics. In
another example, TPEAA monitors the decay of the triplet anthraquinone-2-sulfonate
(AQ2S) anion in aqueous NaCl aerosol. The AQ2S triplet reacts with
water (k′ = 8.7 × 106 s–1) to produce adduct species. In this case, tuning
the wavelength of the photoemission laser permits the preferential
observation of the triplet or a combination of the AQ2S triplet and
the water adduct. These results bridge a gap between aerosol phase
measurements, which are normally steady-state and bulk-phase transient
absorption measurements, which typically probe homogeneous phases.