Aerosol and Trace Gas Mass Spectrometry

One of the key challenges in aerosol science is to understand the complex processes related to nanoparticle formation. To gain understanding on these molecular level processes requires detailed information on the composition of both gaseous nanoparticle precursors and the formed aerosol particles. For this research, the Aerosol Physics Laboratory has four mass spectrometers equipped with atmospheric pressure interfaces. The Thermo Fisher Orbitrap is a very high mass resolution spectrometer capable of obtaining information on very high time resolution. This allows the research of the very fast chemical processes in the early stages of the particle formation. The API-ToF and the Vocus PTR-ToF, both from Tofwerk / Aerodyne, are mainly used in the mobile work to resolve the gaseous compounds produced by certain emission sources. For obtaining composition information on the particle phase, the Aerodyne SP-AMS or the FIGARO inlet with the API-ToF are available. In addition to the commercial instruments, we are also active in developing the tools related to the mass spectrometry with atmospheric pressure inlets.