The heterogeneous chemical kinetics of NO3 on atmospheric mineral dust surrogates.

Uptake experiments of NO3 on mineral dust powder were carried out under continuous molecular flow conditions at 298 +/- 2 K using the thermal decomposition of N2O5 as NO3 source. In situ laser detection using resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) to specifically detect NO2 and NO in the presence of N2O5, NO3 and HNO3 was employed in addition to beam-sampling mass spectrometry. At [NO3] = (7.0 +/- 1.0) x 10(11) cm(-3) we found a steady state uptake coefficient gamma(ss) ranging from (3.4 +/- 1.6) x 10(-2) for natural limestone to (0.12 +/- 0.08) for Saharan Dust with gamma(ss) decreasing as [NO3] increased. NO3 adsorbed on mineral dust leads to uptake of NO2 in an Eley-Rideal mechanism that usually is not taken up in the absence of NO3. The disappearance of NO3 was in part accompanied by the formation of N2O5 and HNO3 in the presence of NO2. NO3 uptake performed on small amounts of Kaolinite and CaCO3 leads to formation of some N2O5 according to NO((3ads)) + NO(2(g)) --> N2O(5(ads)) --> N2O(5(g)). Slow formation of gas phase HNO3 on Kaolinite, CaCO3, Arizona Test Dust and natural limestone has also been observed and is clearly related to the presence of adsorbed water involved in the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O(5(ads)).