The relative humidity-dependent viscosity of single quasi aerosol particles and possible implications for atmospheric aerosol chemistry

Viscosity is a fundamental physicochemical property of aerosol particles that influences chemical evolution, mass transfer rates, particle formation, etc. and also changes with ambient relative humidity (RH). However, the viscosity of real individual aerosol particles still remains less understood. Here, we developed a novel optical system based on dual optical tweezers to measure the viscosity of single suspending aerosol droplets under different RH conditions. In our experiment, a pair of quasi atmospheric aerosol droplets composed of organic and inorganic chemical substances were trapped and levitated by dual laser beams, respectively, and then collided and coalesced. The backscattering light signals and bright-field images of the dynamic coalescence process were recorded to infer the morphological relaxation time and the diameter of the composited droplet. Then, the viscosity of the droplet was calculated based on these measured values. The ambient RH of the aerosol droplets was controlled by varying the relative flow rates of dry and humidified nitrogen gas in a self-developed aerosol chamber. The viscosities of single aqueous droplets nebulized with solutes of sucrose, various sulfates and nitrates, and organic/inorganic mixtures were measured over the atmospheric RH range. Besides, the viscosities of the proxies of actual ambient aerosols in Beijing were investigated, which reasonably interpreted the aerosol chemistry transforming from sulfate dominating to nitrate dominating at the PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 μm) level in the last decade in Beijing. Furthermore, the hygroscopicity of droplets with a solute of organic/inorganic mixtures was researched to obtain a deep insight into the relationship between the viscosity and mass transfer process. Hence, we provide a robust approach for investigating the viscosity and hygroscopicity of the actual individual liquid PM10 aerosols.