The widespread pollution of mercury motivates research into its atmospheric chemistry and transport. Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg(0)) dominates its emission to the atmosphere, and its oxidation to divalent mercury (Hg(II)) compound is critical for entering the ecosystem. BrHg radicals are formed though Br-initiated oxidation, and subsequently react with atmospherically abundant radicals, such as NO2, HOO, etc. However, the reactions of BrHg with NO and O3 have never been studied, neither theoretically nor experimentally. Laser photolysis-laser induced fluorescence (LP-LIF) technology is utilized to conduct direct kinetics studies of the reaction of BrHg + NO and O3 over the range of 313-373K and 80-700 Torr. The side reactions are investigated through kinetics modeling using Kintecus software. We will present our preliminary experimental results and discuss the challenges of the kinetics studies of these reactions.

Experimental kinetics study of missing mercury oxidation pathways of BrHg + NO and O3

ACS Fall 2021

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