Heterogeneous uptake of nitrogen dioxide on Chinese mineral dust.

Mineral dust is one of the major aerosols in the atmosphere. To assess its impact on trace atmospheric gases, in this work we present a laboratory study of the effect of temperature on the heterogeneous reaction of NO2 on the surface of ambient Chinese dust over the temperature range from 258 to 313K. The results suggest that nitrogen dioxide could mainly be adsorbed on these types of Chinese mineral dust reversibly with little temperature dependence. Similar to a previous study on NO2 uptake on mineral aerosols, the uptake coefficients are mainly on the order of 10(-6) for the Chinese dust, when BET areas are taken into account. HONO was observed as a product, and its formation and decomposition on Chinese mineral dust during the uptake processes were also studied. The complete dataset from this study was compiled with previous literature determinations. Atmospheric implications of the heterogeneous reaction between NO2 and mineral dust are also discussed, in an effort to understand this important heterogeneous process.