The photochemistry of liquid aerosols

• Main Author: Knox, Christopher James Henry
• Language: en
• Published: University of Canterbury. Chemistry 2011
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/6076

The photochemistry of liquid aerosols has been investigated with the aim of using the physical properties of liquid aerosols to enhance the reactivity of photochemical and photocatalytic systems. The properties of aerosols that enhance reactivity are summarised under four headings: the optics of micro droplets, diffusion into small particles, surface and interfacial reactivity, and capillarity effects. A range of systems have been developed for the photochemistry of liquid aerosols. A number of photocatalytic systems have been studied and a significant enhancement in the photolysis of molybdenum hexacarbonyl has been observed, relative to the liquid phase. A computational study of the light intensity distribution inside liquid aerosols droplets in photochemical and photocatalytic systems has been carried out. Large enhancements of the internal field intensity relative to the incident field have been observed. It is proposed that the internal intensity distributions are the source of the increased rate of molybdenum hexacarbonyl photolysis. A model has been proposed for gas-liquid transfer, based on the capillary wave motion of the liquid surface.