Naphthalene (Nap) and methylnaphthalene (MN) are the most abundant polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in atmosphere and have been proposed to be important precursors of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) derived from laboratory chamber experiments. In this study, atmospheric Nap/MN and their gas-phase photooxidation products were quantified by a Proton Transfer Reaction-Quadrupole interface Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (PTR-QiTOF) during the 2016 winter in Beijing. Phthalic anhydride, a late generation product from Nap under high-NOx conditions, appeared to be more prominent than 2-formylcinnamaldehyde (early generation product), possibly due to more sufficient oxidation during the haze. 1,2-Phthalic acid (1,2-PhA), the hydrated form of phthalic anhydride, was capable of partitioning into aerosol phase and served as a tracer to explore the contribution of Nap to ambient SOA. The measured fraction in particle phase (Fp) of 1,2-PhA averaged at 73 ± 13% with OA mass loadings of 52.5–87.8 μg/m3, lower than the value predicted by the absorptive partitioning model (100%). Using tracer product-based and precursor consumption-based methods, 2-ring PAHs (Nap and MN) were estimated to produce 14.9% (an upper limit) of the SOA formed in the afternoon during the wintertime haze, suggesting a comparable contribution of Nap and MN with monocyclic-aromatics on urban SOA formation.

A system based on incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy (IBBCEAS) has been developed for simultaneous measurement of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), glyoxal (GLY), and methylglyoxal (MGLY). In this system, the measured light absorption at around 460 nm is spectrally resolved. The concentration of absorbers is determined from a multicomponent fit. At an integration time of 100 s, the measurement sensitivity (2 sigma) for NO2, GLY, and MGLY is 18, 30, and 100 ppt, respectively. The measurement uncertainty, which mainly originates from path length calibration, sampling loss, and uncertainty of absorption cross sections is estimated to be 8% for NO2, 8% for GLY, and 16% for MGLY. When deploying the instrument during field observations, we found significant influence of NO2 on the spectra fitting for retrieving GLY and MGLY concentrations, which is caused by the fact that NO2 has a higher absorption cross section and higher ambient concentration. In order to minimize such an effect, a NO2 photolytic convertor (NPC), which removes sampled NO2 at an efficiency of 76 %, was integrated on the IBBCEAS system. Since sampled GLY and MGLY are mostly (>= 95 %) conserved after passing through the NPC, the quality of the spectra fitting and the measurement accuracy of ambient GLY and MGLY under NO2-rich environments could be improved.

As nitrous acid (HONO) photolysis is an important source of hydroxyl radical (OH), apportionment of the ambient HONO sources is necessary to better understand atmospheric oxidation. Based on the data HONO-related species and various parameters measured during the one–month campaign at Wangdu (a rural site in North China plain) in summer 2014, a box model was adopted with input of current literature parametrizations for various HONO sources (nitrogen dioxide heterogeneous conversion, photoenhanced conversion, photolysis of adsorbed nitric acid and particulate nitrate, acid displacement, and soil emission) to reveal the relative importance of each source at the rural site. The simulation results reproduced the observed HONO production rates during noontime in general but with large uncertainty from both the production and destruction terms. NO2 photoenhanced conversion and photolysis of particulate nitrate were found to be the two major mechanisms with large potential of HONO formation but the associated uncertainty may reduce their importance to be nearly negligible. Soil nitrite was found to be an important HONO source during fertilization periods, accounted for (80 ± 6)% of simulation HONO during noontime. For some episodes of the biomass burning, only the NO2 heterogeneous conversion to HONO was promoted significantly. In summary, the study of the HONO budget is still far from closed, which would require a significant effort on both the accurate measurement of HONO and the determination of related kinetic parameters for its production pathways.

In contrast to summer smog, the contribution of photochemistry to the formation of winter haze in northern mid-to-high latitude is generally assumed to be minor due to reduced solar UV and water vapor concentrations. Our comprehensive observations of atmospheric radicals and relevant parameters during several haze events in winter 2016 Beijing, however, reveal surprisingly high hydroxyl radical oxidation rates up to 15 ppbv/h, which is comparable to the high values reported in summer photochemical smog and is two to three times larger than those determined in previous observations during winter in Birmingham (Heard et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 2004, 31, (18)), Tokyo (Kanaya et al. J. Geophys. Res.: Atmos. 2007, 112, (D21)), and New York (Ren et al. Atmos. Environ. 2006, 40, 252–263). The active photochemistry facilitates the production of secondary pollutants. It is mainly initiated by the photolysis of nitrous acid and ozonolysis of olefins and maintained by an extremely efficiently radical cycling process driven by nitric oxide. This boosted radical recycling generates fast photochemical ozone production rates that are again comparable to those during summer photochemical smog. The formation of ozone, however, is currently masked by its efficient chemical removal by nitrogen oxides contributing to the high level of wintertime particles. The future emission regulations, such as the reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions, therefore are facing the challenge of reducing haze and avoiding an increase in ozone pollution at the same time. Efficient control strategies to mitigate winter haze in Beijing may require measures similar as implemented to avoid photochemical smog in summer.

Since 1971, it has been known that the atmospheric free radicals play a pivotal role in maintaining the oxidizing power of the troposphere. The existence of the oxidizing power is an important feature of the troposphere to remove primary air pollutants emitted from human beings as well as those from the biosphere. Nevertheless, serious secondary air-pollution incidents can take place due to fast oxidation of the primary pollutants. Elucidating the atmospheric free-radical chemistry is a demanding task in the field of atmospheric chemistry worldwide, which includes two kinds of work: first, the setup of reliable radical detection systems; second, integrated field studies that enable closure studies on the sources and sinks of targeted radicals such as OH and NO3. In this review, we try to review the Chinese efforts to explore the atmospheric free-radical chemistry in such chemical complex environments and the possible link of this fast gas-phase oxidation with the fast formation of secondary air pollution in the city-cluster areas in China.

Glyoxal (GLY) acts as a key contributor to tropospheric ozone production and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation on local to regional scales. The detection of GLY provides useful indicators of fast photochemistry occurring in the lower troposphere. The fast and sensitive detection of GLY is thus important, while traditional chemical ionization such as the proton-transfer reaction (PTR) is extremely limited by the poor detection limit and extensive fragmentation. To address these limitations, electron attachment reaction (EAR) ionization was applied to detect GLY. The generation of parent anions (GLY–) without fragmentation was observed, and cryogenic photoelectron imaging spectroscopy further characterized the structure of GLY–. The detection limit was estimated to be as low as (52 ± 1) pptv (parts per trillion by volume) with 1 min measurements. Other components in ambient air, such as water, carbon dioxide, and trace gases (acetone, propanal, etc.) have no effect on the detection of GLY. The EAR ionization is more promising than PTR ionization in detecting GLY. The detection of GLY in ambient air by the EAR ionization has been demonstrated.

A field campaign was conducted from November to December 2017 at the campus of Peking University (PKU) to investigate the formation mechanism of the winter air pollution in Beijing with the measurement of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl radical (OH and HO2) with the support from comprehensive observation of trace gases compounds. The extent of air pollution depends on meteorological conditions. The daily maximum OH radical concentrations are on average 2.0 × 106 cm−3 and 1.5 × 106 cm−3 during the clean and polluted episodes, respectively. The daily maximum HO2 radical concentrations are on average 0.4 × 108 cm−3 and 0.3 × 108 cm−3 during the clean and polluted episodes, respectively (diurnal averaged for one hour bin). A box model based on RACM2-LIM1 mechanism can reproduce the OH concentrations but underestimate the HO2 concentrations by 50% during the clean episode. The OH and HO2 concentrations are underestimated by 50% and 12 folds during the polluted episode, respectively. Strong dependence on nitric oxide (NO) concentration is found for both observed and modeled HO2 concentrations, with the modeled HO2 decreasing more rapidly than observed HO2, leading to severe HO2 underestimation at higher NO concentrations. The OH reactivity is calculated from measured and modeled species and inorganic compounds (carbon monoxide (CO), NO, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) make up 69%–76% of the calculated OH reactivity. The photochemical oxidation rate denoted by the OH loss rate increases by 3 times from the clean to polluted episodes, indicating the strong oxidation capacity in polluted conditions. The comparison between measurements at PKU site and a suburban site from one previous study shows that chemical conditions are similar in both urban and suburban areas. Hence, the strong oxidation capacity and its potential contribution to the pollution bursts are relatively homogeneous over the whole Beijing city and its surrounding areas.

During the period 2012-2015, photolysis frequencies were measured at the Peking University site (PKUERS), a site representative of Beijing. We present a study of the effects of aerosols on two key photolysis frequencies, j((OD)-D-1) and j(NO2). Both j((OD)-D-1) and j(NO2) display significant dependence on aerosol optical depth (AOD; 380 nm) with a non-linear negative correlation. With the increase in AOD, the slopes of photolysis frequencies vs. AOD decrease, which indicates that the capacity of aerosols to reduce the actinic flux decreases with AOD. The absolute values of slopes are equal to 4.2-6.9x10(-6) and 3.4x10(-3) s(-1) per AOD unit for j((OD)-D-1) and j(NO2) respectively at a solar zenith angle (SZA) of 60 degrees and AOD smaller than 0.7, both of which are larger than those observed in a similar, previous study in the Mediterranean. This indicates that the aerosols in Beijing have a stronger extinction effect on actinic flux than absorptive dust aerosols in the Mediterranean. Since the photolysis frequencies strongly depended on the AOD and the SZA, we established a parametric equation to quantitatively evaluate the effect of aerosols on photolysis frequencies in Beijing. According to the parametric equation, aerosols lead to a decrease in seasonal mean j(NO2) by 24% and 30% for summer and winter, respectively, and a corresponding decrease in seasonal mean j((OD)-D-1) by 27% and 33 %, respectively, compared to an aerosol-free atmosphere (AOD = 0). Based on an observation campaign in August 2012, we used a photochemical box model to simulate the ozone production rate (P(O-3)). The simulation results shows that the monthly mean daytime net ozone production rate is reduced by up to 25% due to the light extinction of aerosols. Through further in-depth analysis, it was found that particulate matter concentra-tions maintain a high level under the condition of high concentrations of ozone precursors (volatile organic compounds, VOCs, and NOx), which inhibits the production of ozone to a large extent. This phenomenon implies a negative feedback mechanism in the atmospheric environment of Beijing.

芳香烃是城市地区人为源排放的重要挥发性有机物, 其光化学氧化与臭氧和细颗粒物的生成密切相关. 本研究以SAPHIR烟雾箱实验测得的甲苯光化学氧化反应数据为基础, 基于盒子模型搭载MCM3.3.1、SAPRC07、RACM2以及CB06机理对不同机理中的甲苯氧化机制进行比较. 结果表明, 四种机理均可较好地模拟甲苯光化学氧化过程中O3和OH自由基浓度以及OH总反应活性(kOH)的变化, 但是高估了PAN的浓度且低估了HCHO和HO2自由基的浓度. 本研究通过调整PAN、HCHO生成过程中重要的氧化中间态物种CH3CO3反应途径的分支比例, 并增加RO2和HO2反应再生OH的循环机制, 使模型模拟PAN、HCHO以及HO2自由基的结果得以改进, 表明未来对关键氧化中间态物种的准确测量将有助于对现有光化学反应机理的验证与更新.

羟基自由基(·OH)总反应性(kOH)是大气中所有·OH反应物的浓度与其·OH反应速率常数乘积的总和,对kOH的直接测量有助于识别未知的·OH反应物种及提升·OH收支分析的准确度.因此,本研究建立了一套基于激光光解-激光诱导荧光技术的kOH在线测量系统(LP-LIF),利用紫外脉冲激光在流动管内光解臭氧产生·OH,采用激光诱导荧光技术实时测量其与采样进入流动管的活性气体反应而导致的·OH浓度衰减,通过对该衰减进行指数拟合得到采样气的kOH.经实验室测试,LP-LIF系统对kOH的测量灵敏度为1.2 s^-1,时间分辨率5 min.应用该系统对2018年秋季深圳地区的大气kOH进行为期1个月的连续测量,结合同步观测的·OH反应物浓度数据发现,kOH观测值在10~30 s^-1之间,主要来自一氧化碳(14%)、氮氧化物(26%)和一次排放的挥发性有机物(24%).此外,由未测量的·OH反应物贡献的kOH平均约23%,且在夜间和早晚高峰时段贡献较高,推测其主要来自溶剂涂料、石化工业及LPG机动车排放.