Nadine Borduas-Dedekind: Assistant Professor at Department of Chemistry, UBC Faculty of Science

Assistant Professor

Faculty of Science

Research Classification

Chemical sciences

Research Interests

atmospheric chemistry

chemical mechanisms

atmospheric ice nucleation

Biogeochemistry

mass spectrometry

Photochemistry

indoor chemistry

atmospheric aerosols

singlet oxygen

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

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Research Options

I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).

I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.

I am interested in working with undergraduate students on research projects.

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Research Methodology

smog chamber

online chemical ionization mass spectrometry

droplet freezing technique for ice nucleation

photochemical reactor

Liquid chromatography

Recruitment

Looking to recruit:

Doctoral students

Postdoctoral Fellows

Desired start dates: Any time / year round

Other options:

I support public scholarship, e.g. through the Public Scholars Initiative, and am available to supervise students and Postdocs interested in collaborating with external partners as part of their research.

I support experiential learning experiences, such as internships and work placements, for my graduate students and Postdocs.

I am open to hosting Visiting International Research Students (non-degree, up to 12 months).

I am interested in hiring Co-op students for research placements.

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Graduate Student Supervision

Master's Student Supervision

Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.

Investigating the atmospheric ice nucleation mechanism of biomass burning organic aerosols using synthesized and size-resolved lignin nanoparticles (2024)

Mixed-phase clouds are important climate regulators, providing significant annual precipitation and global cloud coverage. An increase in wildfires in the past decade is changing cloud cover and cloud composition which are currently difficult to predict due to a lack of mechanistic understanding. Although there is evidence of the ability of organic aerosols to nucleate ice under mixed-phase cloud conditions, the underlying physicochemical mechanism through which organic materials promote ice nucleation is an active area of research. The goal of this thesis is to study the mechanism through which lignin, and, by extension, biomass burning organic aerosols, nucleate ice in the atmosphere. To determine ice activity of lignin, we employ a bottom-up approach by synthesizing lignin nanoparticles (LNPs). LNPs have controllable, measurable, characteristics; valuable for elucidating the mechanism of ice nucleation of lignin. To determine the role of size and surface properties, we synthesized lignin nanoparticles (LNPs) from commercially available Kraft lignin and tested their freezing ability in our home-built Freezing Ice Nuclei Counter (FINC). LNPs were characterized for their size and dispersity with dynamic light scattering (DLS). Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) provided additional confirmation of shape and dispersity. We then prepared LNP solutions of different sizes at equal concentration via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to isolate the role of size on ice nucleation. Our FINC and DFA results confirmed that lignin nanoparticles, ranging in size from 80 – 500 d.nm, at the same concentration (0.2 mg/mL) are ice active with T\textsubscript{50} values ranging from -14.96 to -15.91 ºC. We found that few large LNPs nucleate ice with the same ability as many small LNPs. Normalizing the freezing data to mass and number suggests that aggregation facilitates ice nucleation of LNPs in the 10s and 100s of nanometers in size. From this research, we further contribute to the growing literature suggesting the key role of aggregation, and therefore likely of chemical composition on organic aerosols' ability to nucleate ice. These findings help understand how lignin within wildfire organic aerosols are able to nucleate ice and hence impact the ice crystal concentration in mixed-phase clouds.

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