Water uptake of multicomponent organic mixtures and their influence on hygroscopicity of inorganic salts

The hygroscopic behaviors of atmospherically relevant multicomponent water soluble organic compounds (WSOCs) and their effects on ammonium sulfate (AS) and sodium chloride were investigated using a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) in the relative humidity (RH) range of 5%–90%. The measured hygroscopic growth was compared with predictions from the Extended-Aerosol Inorganics Model (E-AIM) and Zdanovskii–Stokes–Robinson (ZSR) method. The equal mass multicomponent WSOCs mixture containing levoglucosan, succinic acid, phthalic acid and humic acid showed gradual water uptake without obvious phase change over the whole RH range. It was found that the organic content played an important role in the water uptake of mixed particles. When organic content was dominant in the mixture (75%), the measured hygroscopic growth was higher than predictions from the E-AIM or ZSR relation, especially under high RH conditions. For mass fractions of organics not larger than 50%, the hygroscopic growth of mixtures was in good agreement with model predictions. The influence of interactions between inorganic and organic components on the hygroscopicity of mixed particles was related to the salt type and organic content. These results could contribute to understanding of the hygroscopic behaviors of multicomponent aerosol particles.