An investigative review of the expanded capabilities of thermal/optical techniques for measuring carbonaceous aerosols and beyond

Abstract

Carbonaceous aerosols primarily comprise organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC). Thermal-optical analysis (TOA) is the most commonly used method for separating carbonaceous aerosols into OC and EC (BC is referred to as elemental carbon EC, in this method). Advances in hardware design and algorithms have expanded the capabilities of TOA beyond just distinguishing OC and EC. However, a comprehensive understanding of the enhanced functionality of TOA is still lacking. This study provides the first comprehensive review of the TOA technique, highlighting expanded capabilities to measure brown carbon (BrC), mass-absorption efficiency, absorption enhancement, source contributions, and refined OC/EC split points. This review discusses the principles, advantages, and limitations of these advancements. Furthermore, the TOA system anticipates further advancements through integration with other instruments, establishing correlations between EC values obtained from different TOA instruments/protocols, correlating between BrC measurements from TOA and non-TOA methods, and developing an algorithm to quantify BrC from progressive absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) values. This review enhances the understanding of the TOA system and its implication for air quality and atmospheric radiation research.