CRC: An Integrated Approach to Understanding the Air-Water Interface In Atmospherically Relevant Systems

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts, Donald Dabdub, R. Benny Gerber, John. C. Hemminger and Douglas J. Tobias of UC Irvine are jointly supported by the Division of Chemistry, the International Programs Office and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate for their interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at significantly advancing our understanding of chemistry at the air-water interface. More specifically, they will be looking at the interaction of gases such as SO2, oxides of nitrogen (NO2, N2O4, HNO3), CO2 and HCl with water in films of varying thickness. In addition, interactions of these thin films with surfactant layers will be studied. Both theory and experiments will be applied to understand the chemical and physical interactions at the air-water interface in these systems. The potential importance of such processes at interfaces involving particles and other surfaces in the troposphere will be probed using a comprehensive airshed model. This award includes international collaborations with Pavel Jungwirth, Czech Academy of Sciences, and Leon Phillips, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, that will include international training opportunities for the students and postdoctoral researchers involved with this work. Collaborative Research in Chemistry (CRC) awards are given to interdisciplinary teams of scientists working on problems of broad chemical interest. The emphasis in these awards is on new collaborative modes of research and training.