Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the main precursors to soot particles in combustion systems, but the transition from gas-phase species to organic soot clusters is still not fully understood. Here, the authors study infant soot particles with mass spectrometry and kinetic Monte Carlo simulations and identify peri-condensed PAHs to be the most thermodynamically stable species.
- Can Shao
- Qi Wang
- S. Mani Sarathy