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.
