Secondary organic aerosol formation from styrene photolysis and photooxidation with hydroxyl radicals.

The formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) generated by irradiating styrene in the presence and/or absence of OH, NOx, HO vapour and seed aerosol has been investigated for the first time. Experiments were conducted in a smog chamber at 298 K and atmospheric pressure. Styrene decay was measured by gas chromatography with a mass spectrometric detector (GC-MS), and the temporal evolution of the aerosol was monitored using a fast mobility particle sizer (FMPS).