Surface-Area-to-Volume Ratio Determines Surface Tensions in Microscopic, Surfactant-Containing Droplets.

ABSTRACT: The surface composition of aerosol droplets is central to predicting cloud droplet number concentrations, understanding atmospheric pollutant transformation, and interpreting observations of accelerated droplet chemistry. Due to the large surface-area-to-volume ratios of aerosol droplets, adsorption of surfactant at the air-liquid interface can deplete the droplet's bulk concentration, leading to droplet surface compositions that do not match those of the solutions that produced them. Through direct measurements of individual surfactant-containing, micrometer-sized droplet surface tensions, and fully independent predictive thermodynamic modeling of droplet surface tension, we demonstrate that, for strong surfactants, the droplet's surface-area-to-volume ratio becomes the key factor in dete

SUBMITTER: Bain A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10683496 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature