Organic matter can initiate heterogeneous ice nucleation in supercooled water droplets, thereby influencing atmospheric cloud glaciation. Predicting the ice nucleation ability of organic matter-containing cloud droplets is challenging due to the unknown mechanism for templating ice. Here, we observed the presence of nanoparticles in aqueous samples of known ice-nucleating biopolymers cellulose and lignin, as well as in newly identified ice-nucleating biopolymers xylan and laminarin. Using our drop Freezing Ice Nuclei Counter (FINC), we measured the median ice nucleation temperature (T50) of xylan and of laminarin droplets of 2 μl to be −14.2 and −20.0 °C, respectively. Next, we characterized these samples using nanoparticle tracking analysis, and we detected and quantified nanoparticles with mean diameters between 132 and 267 nm. Xylan contained the largest nanoparticles and froze at higher temperatures. Xylan also dictated the freezing in a 1:1:1:1 mixture with cellulose, lignin, laminarin, and xylan. Filtration experiments down to 300 kDa with the xylan sample indicated that the presence of nanoparticles triggered freezing. Overall, only samples with mean diameters above 150 nm froze above −20 °C. Furthermore, we determined the ice-active site densities normalized to particle concentrations, surface area, and mass of the nanoparticles to show that the samples’ nucleation site densities are similar to sea spray aerosols and nanometer-sized dust. The identification and characterization of xylan and laminarin as nanometer-sized ice-nucleating substances expands the growing list of organic matter capable of impacting cloud formation and thus climate.
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7 September 2024
Research Article|
September 04 2024
The presence of nanoparticles in aqueous droplets containing plant-derived biopolymers plays a role in heterogeneous ice nucleation
Special Collection:
Water: Molecular Origins of its Anomalies
Paul Bieber
;
Paul Bieber
a)
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
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Ghinwa H. Darwish
;
Ghinwa H. Darwish
(Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing)
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
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W. Russ Algar
;
W. Russ Algar
(Formal analysis, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing)
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
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Nadine Borduas-Dedekind
Nadine Borduas-Dedekind
b)
(Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing)
Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia
, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z1, Canada
b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: borduas@chem.ubc.ca
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b)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: borduas@chem.ubc.ca
a)
Electronic mail: pbieber@chem.ubc.ca
J. Chem. Phys. 161, 094304 (2024)
Article history
Received:
April 09 2024
Accepted:
August 02 2024
Citation
Paul Bieber, Ghinwa H. Darwish, W. Russ Algar, Nadine Borduas-Dedekind; The presence of nanoparticles in aqueous droplets containing plant-derived biopolymers plays a role in heterogeneous ice nucleation. J. Chem. Phys. 7 September 2024; 161 (9): 094304. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0213171
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