Applications of Infrared Spectroscopy in Analysis of Organic Aerosols

Abstract

This paper reviews the studies of using FTIR to investigate the components of aerosols produced in smog chamber experiments and collected in atmosphere. The fact that aerosols are mixture of small amount of countless individual compounds makes the analysis of aerosol constituents very challenging. Although a number of advanced instruments have been applied to the chemical characterization of aerosol components, the majority of aerosol components, particularly the organics, remain unknown. Being supplemental to the traditional quantitative instruments, FTIR has been recently used either individually or combining with other analytical instruments to characterize the components of aerosol particles. This paper aims to show how FTIR is applied to analysis of organic aerosols in current literature and to summarize the FTIR characteristic peak frequencies that are widely seen in the FTIR measurement of organic aerosols. It will be greatly helpful to researchers whose studies are focused on the analysis of aerosol components.