PNNL

Abstract

The significance and critical impact of aerosols in a variety of environmental and engineering processes has been recognized in many branches of modern environmental science, including geophysics and climate change, atmospheric chemistry and environmental catalysis, nanoscience and nanotoxicology, pharmacology, and drug delivery. For instance, the scattering of light by atmospheric aerosol has a direct effect on visibility and the Earth’s radiation balance. Additionally, aerosol’s impact on climate includes modification of cloud properties and precipitation developments as a result of aerosol particles acting as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) and ice nuclei (IN). Aerosols affect air quality and atmospheric chemistry through their heterogeneous gas-to-particle reactions that modify particle composition and properties and alter concentrations of gas-phase species. Submicron-sized aerosol particles, either commercially engineered or of anthropogenic pollution origin, often contain inflammatory, carcinogenic, and mutagenic compounds and may have adverse effects on human health upon inhalation. Conversely, the ability of small particles to deeply penetrate into human lungs and interact directly with alveolar cells provides an efficient and quick means of delivery of aerosolized drugs, which are widely used in medical applications.