Probing the Water Uptake and Phase State of Individual Sucrose Nanoparticles Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Chamika K Madawala; Hansol D Lee; Chathuri P Kaluarachchi; Alexei V Tivanski

doi:10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00101

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Probing the Water Uptake and Phase State of Individual Sucrose Nanoparticles Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Journal article

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Probing the Water Uptake and Phase State of Individual Sucrose Nanoparticles Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Chamika K Madawala, Hansol D Lee, Chathuri P Kaluarachchi and Alexei V Tivanski

ACS earth and space chemistry, Vol.5(10), pp.2612-2620

10/21/2021

DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00101

PMCID: PMC8543754

PMID: 34712889

Appears in UI Libraries Support Open Access

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Abstract

The effects of atmospheric aerosols on the climate and atmosphere of Earth can vary significantly depending upon their properties, including size, morphology, and phase state, all of which are influenced by varying relative humidity (RH) in the atmosphere. A significant fraction of atmospheric aerosols is below 100 nm in size. However, as a result of size limitations of conventional experimental techniques, how the particle-to-particle variability of the phase state of aerosols influences atmospheric processes is poorly understood. To address this issue, the atomic force microscopy (AFM) methodology that was previously established for sub-micrometer aerosols is extended to measure the water uptake and identify the phase state of individual sucrose nanoparticles. Quantified growth factors (GFs) of individual sucrose nanoparticles up to 60% RH were lower than expected values observed on the sub-micrometer sucrose particles. The effect could be attributed to the semisolid sucrose nanoparticle restructuring on a substrate. At RH > 60%, sucrose nanoparticles are liquid and GFs overlap well with the sub-micrometer particles and theoretical predictions. This suggests that quantification of GFs of nanoparticles may be inaccurate for the RH range where particles are semisolid but becomes accurate at elevated RH where particles are liquid. Despite this, however, the identified phase states of the nanoparticles were comparable to their sub-micrometer counterparts. The identified phase transitions between solid and semisolid and between semisolid and liquid for sucrose were at ∼18 and 60% RH, which are equivalent to viscosities of 1011.2 and 102.5 Pa s, respectively. This work demonstrates that measurements of the phase state using AFM are applicable to nanosized particles, even when the substrate alters the shape of semisolid nanoparticles and alters the GF.

Atomic Force Microscopy

UIOWA OA Agreement

phase state

aerosol particles

relative humidity

nanoparticles

Details

Title: Subtitle: Probing the Water Uptake and Phase State of Individual Sucrose Nanoparticles Using Atomic Force Microscopy
Creators: Chamika K Madawala - Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
Hansol D Lee - Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
Chathuri P Kaluarachchi - Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
Alexei V Tivanski - Department of Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, United States
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: ACS earth and space chemistry, Vol.5(10), pp.2612-2620
DOI: 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.1c00101
PMID: 34712889
PMCID: PMC8543754
NLM abbreviation: ACS Earth Space Chem
ISSN: 2472-3452
eISSN: 2472-3452
Publisher: American Chemical Society
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/100000165, name: Division of Chemistry, award: 1801971
Language: English
Date published: 10/21/2021
Academic Unit: Chemistry
Record Identifier: 9984216572202771

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