Mechanical Engineering Graduate Seminar

Abstract

Atmospheric particulate matter or aerosol particles, directly and indirectly, impact climate, regional air quality, and human health. The impacts are closely associated with aerosol particles' chemical and physical evolution, which can be regulated by multiphase reactions and surface tension of deliquesced aerosol particles, respectively. However, in the extreme environment of aerosol particles, the behavior of the reaction kinetics and surface tension often deviates from our chemical intuition based on a beaker-scale understanding. My talk will introduce spectroscopic methods for single particle analysis to study reaction kinetics and surface tension of aerosol particles. The methods are based on inelastic (Raman) and quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) techniques. Raman and QELS techniques will show dramatic differences in reaction kinetics and surface tension of deliquesced aerosol particles from beaker-scale (bulk) solutions. Our laboratory study would be helpful to improve our understanding of aerosol chemistry with broad implications for air quality and climate.

Bio

Dr. Gen obtained a doctoral degree in chemical engineering at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in 2014. He worked as a postdoctoral researcher in material science at Tohoku University from 2014–2016 and as a research fellow at the City University of Hong Kong for almost four years afterwards. He is currently an assistant professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Before that, he was at Kanazawa University and Tohoku University. He has over ten years of research experience in aerosol science and technology. He specializes in particle characterization, laser spectroscopy, multiphase processes of aerosols, and the secondary formation of aerosols in laboratory studies. His publications received the best paper award in the ACS journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters in 2019 and the best review paper award in 2022 in the RSC journal Environmental Sciences: Atmosphere.