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Wintertime nitrate formation pathways in the North China Plain: Importance of N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis
  • +11
  • Lang Liu,
  • Naifang Bei,
  • Bo Hu,
  • Jiarui Wu,
  • Liu Suixin,
  • Xia Li,
  • Ruonan Wang,
  • Zirui Liu,
  • Jiaoyang Yu,
  • Min Zuo,
  • Zhenxing Shen,
  • Junji Cao,
  • Xuexi Tie,
  • Guohui Li
Lang Liu
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Naifang Bei
Xi'an Jiaotong University
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Bo Hu
State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Jiarui Wu
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Liu Suixin
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Xia Li
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Ruonan Wang
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese acdemy of sciences
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Zirui Liu
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Jiaoyang Yu
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Min Zuo
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Zhenxing Shen
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi⿿an Jiaotong University, China
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Junji Cao
Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Xuexi Tie
Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China
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Guohui Li
Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Nitrate aerosols, formed via nitric acid (HNO) to balance inorganic cations in the particle phase, have constituted a major fraction of fine particulate matters (PM) during wintertime haze events in the North China Plain(NCP), with a progressively increasing contribution to PMmass. HNOis produced through homogeneous and heterogeneous pathways in the atmosphere, but the contribution of the two pathways to nitrate remains elusive. Simulations of a wintertime haze event in the NCP using a source-oriented WRF-Chem model reveal that the homogeneous and heterogeneous pathways contribute 48.4% and 51.6% of near-surface nitrate mass on average, respectively. The heterogeneous pathway dominates the nighttime HNOproduction in the planetary boundary layer, with an average contribution of 83%. Although NOis photolytically liable during daytime, the heterogeneous NOhydrolysis still contributes 10% of HNO. Our study highlights the significantly important role of NOheterogeneous hydrolysis in the nitrate formation during wintertime haze days.
Nov 2020Published in Environmental Pollution volume 266 on pages 115287. 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115287