How volatile components catalyze vapor nucleation.

ABSTRACT: Gas phase nucleation is a ubiquitous phenomenon in planetary atmospheres and technical processes, yet our understanding of it is far from complete. In particular, the enhancement of nucleation by the addition of a more volatile, weakly interacting gaseous species to a nucleating vapor has escaped molecular-level experimental investigation. Here, we use a specially designed experiment to directly measure the chemical composition and the concentration of nucleating clusters in various binary CO2-containing vapors. Our analysis suggests that CO2 essentially catalyzes nucleation of the low vapor pressure component through the formation of transient, hetero-molecular clusters and thus provides alternative pathways for nucleation to proceed more efficiently. This work opens up new avenues for th

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7806218 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature