Discover Our Lab!
How do we conduct atmospheric chemistry research?
FINC is a Drop Freezing Ice Nuclei Counter, an immersion freezing instrument for measuring ice nucleation of supercooled aqueous samples. It was custom built in the NBD Group. Data from FINC can be used to improve understanding of processes in mixed-phase clouds.
FINC
Rayonet
The Rayonet is used in photochemical experiments. It shines UV light at samples to initiate photochemical reactions, such as reactions that produce singlet oxygen. We are then able to take samples as the reaction progresses, and track the photochemical oxidants that are being produced. Overall, the Rayonet can give us insight into the photochemistry that is happening in the atmosphere, when molecules react with sunlight.
Vocus-S PTR–ToF Mass Spectrometer + Pillow Bag
The Vocus-S provides real time, highly sensitive, proton transfer reaction time-of-flight (PTR–ToF) mass spectrometry of air and gas samples. When connected to the pillow bag, we can measure samples such as Selenium in a contained environment, as well as use LEDs to look at photochemical reactions. It can also be attached to the ATMOX chamber.
Vocus-2R PTR-ToF Mass Spectrometer
The Vocus-2R provides real time, highly sensitive, proton transfer reaction time of flight (PTR–ToF) mass spectrometry of air/gas samples. Vocus-2R has higher mass resolution than Vocus-S, which allows for better peak separation, making it extremely useful for identifying chemicals in ambient conditions. It can also be attached to the ATMOX chamber.
SMPS
The SMPS is a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. It is an instrument system that takes in a gas or aerosol sample, separates particles by size, and counts the number of particles in the sample. This allows us to determine the size of particles in aerosol samples with substances like dust or wildfire smoke. It can be attached to the ATMOX chamber for measurements.
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The custom built ATMOX (Advanced Techniques for Mechanisms of OXidation) chamber is a reaction chamber for the simulation of atmospheric and indoor gas phase chemistry. It has built in connections for taking measurements with many instruments. Equipped with specialized UV LEDs (in partnership with Violumas) in ranges from 275nm to 385nm, and standard LEDs at 450nm-630nm, the ATMOX
chamber also allows us to simulate photochemistry of the atmosphere.
ATMOX + LEDs
VODCA
VODCA stands for the Vienna Optical Droplet Crystallization Analyzer. VODCA is a high-speed cryo-microscope and camera setup with a broad range of applications, ranging from high-speed analysis of interfacial freezing to observing freezing processes on the order of 5 um droplets. It captures high-speed video of ice nucleation in a single, supercooled micro-droplet, allowing us to see exactly where ice begins to form in the droplet. Built in partnership with Kron-Technologies High Speed Imaging and the Technical University of Vienna.
The Coriolis Micro Impinger is a highly effective aerosol sampling instrument. It collects a sample aerosol into a water solution using the Coriolis effect, to be used for further analysis.
Coriolis Micro Impinger
Gas Chromatograph
The Gas Chromatograph is used to separate gases within a mixture, helping us to analyze different components of a sample. Right now, it can be attached to the Vocus-S.
We have a Thermo Scientific 42iQ NO-NO₂-NOx Analyzer. This instrument is used for measuring the concentration of NO and NO₂ in a sample. It can be attached to the ATMOX chamber for analysis.
NOx Analyzer
We have a DataPhysics optical contact angle measuring and contour analysis system. This instrument is used for measuring the surface tension of a droplet to characterize surface active molecules at the air water interface, during ice nucleation studies.
Pendant Droplet Tensiometer
