[1] The use of ethanol as a transportation fuel in the U.S. increased significantly from 2000–2009, and in 2010 nearly all gasoline contained 10% ethanol. In accordance with this increased use, atmospheric measurements of volatile organic compounds in Los Angeles in 2010 were significantly enriched in ethanol compared to measurements in urban outflow in the Northeast U.S. in 2002 and 2004. Mixi...

Molecular level insight into the interaction between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aerosols is crucial for improvement of atmospheric chemistry models. In this paper, the interaction between adsorbed toluene, one of the most significant VOCs in the urban atmosphere, and the aqueous surface of aerosols was studied by means of combined molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio quantum ...

The oxygenation of Earth's surface fundamentally altered global biogeochemical cycles and ultimately paved the way for the rise of metazoans at the end of the Proterozoic. However, current estimates for atmospheric oxygen (O2) levels during the billion years leading up to this time vary widely. On the basis of chromium (Cr) isotope data from a suite of Proterozoic sediments from China, Australi...

The atmosphere–ocean system experienced a progressive change from anoxic to more oxidizing conditions through time. This oxidation is traditionally envisaged to have occurred as two stepwise increases in atmospheric oxygen at the beginning and end of the Proterozoic Eon. Here, we present a study of the redox-sensitive element, uranium, in organic-rich shales to track the history of Earth's enri...

The role of catalysis in chemical industry as basis of modern civilization is described and mechanism of catalytic reactions is discussed. Influence of electronic structure of transition metal atoms, structure sensitivity of catalytic reactions, tailoring of acid-base and redox properties of zeolites, quantum chemical description of elementary reaction steps, dynamics of catalysts surfaces, osc...

The objective of this work is to develop a sustainable process for simultaneous removal of waste gases such as NO, NO2, and SO2 by an electrochemically generated Ag(I)/Ag(II) redox mediator system. High removal efficiency was achieved for NO and SO2 by the wet scrubbing method at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. This removal is achieved through oxidation and absorption by contacting t...

The heterogeneous oxidation of SO2 has been the subject of intense scrutiny in atmospheric chemistry because of the adverse effects of sulfate particles. Although it has been found that the soot particles with a graphene-like structure play an important role in the oxidation of SO2, little is known about the atomic-level mechanism involved. Here, we studied the oxidation of SO2 on oxygen-functi...

The chlorine radical is a potent atmospheric oxidant, capable of perturbing tropospheric oxidative cycles normally controlled by the hydroxyl radical. Significantly faster reaction rates allow chlorine radicals to expedite oxidation of hydrocarbons, including methane, and in polluted environments, to enhance ozone production. Here we present evidence, from the CARIBIC airborne dataset, for exte...

The evolution of internal stresses in oxide scales growing on an Fe3Al polycrystal in atmospheric air at 700 determined using in-situ energy-dispersive synchrotron x-ray diffraction. Texture analyses were performed ex-situ after 5h of oxidation at 700 the oxide scale thickness, as determined by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, lays between 80 and 100nm. The main phase present in the oxide scal...