Spectroscopy and Photochemistry of Fluorinated Acids in the Gas Phase and at the Air/Water Interface

The focus of my research is on the atmospheric chemistry and fate of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), which are fully fluorinated organic compounds. The primary questions we are trying to answer are:

1. Are aqueous atmospheric aerosols a plausible candidate for the transport and distribution of PFCs?

2. What are the degradation products of PFCs as a result of direct vibrational overtone photolysis?

To answer these questions, we study the gas phase vibrational spectra of PFCs by using both Fourier transform and cavity ring-down spectroscopy and characterize their film properties using a Langmuir-Blodgett trough. Currently, experiments are underway to investigate photolysis in the gas phase as well as at the air-water interface.

Publications:

5. "Sunlight-initiated photochemistry: Excited vibrational states of atmospheric chromophores." V. Vaida, K. J. Feierabend, N. Rontu and K. Takahashi International Journal of Photoenergy, Art. No. 138091 (2008).

4. "Vibrational Specroscopy of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids from the Infrared to the Visible Regions" N. Rontu and V. Vaida Journal or Physical Chemistry B, 112(2), 276-282 (2008).

3. "Surface Partitioning and Stability of Pure and Mixed Films of 8-2 Fluorotelomer Alcohol at the Air-Water Interface" N. Rontu and V. Vaida Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 111(31), 11612-11618 (2007).

2. "Miscibility of Perfluorododecanoic Acid with Organic Acids at the Air-Water Interfce" N. Rontu and V. Vaida Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 111(27), 9975-9980 (2007).

1. "Vibrational spectroscopy of perfluoropropionic acid in the region between 1000-11000 cm-1" N. Rontu, V. Vaida J. Mol. Spectosc., 237(1), 19-26 (2006).

Instruments:

Bruker FT-IR Spectrometer

Langmuir-Blodgett Trough