Issue 7, 2022

Significant impacts of NO2 and NH3 on the sulfate formations on the surface of nano MgO particles in a smog chamber

Abstract

Sulfate is one of the most important secondary components in atmospheric fine particles, especially in haze days, exerting a significant impact on haze formations. In this study a photochemical smog chamber was developed to investigate SO2 heterogeneous reactions on the surface of nano MgO particles under different initial conditions in the three reaction systems of SO2–MgO-dark, SO2–MgO-, and SO2–MgO–O3. In the three reaction systems, sulfate concentrations presented the order of > O3 > dark. In the reaction system of SO2–MgO-dark, sulfate heterogeneous formations could be positively affected by the factors following the order of NH3 > RH > NO2 > MgO particles. In the reaction system of SO2–MgO- with NO2 or NH3, the concentrations of produced sulfate, nitrate or ammonium presented different changes with NO2 or NH3 levels, and the synergistic effects of NH3 and UV light on sulfate heterogeneous formations were obviously higher than those of NO2 and UV light. In the reaction system of SO2–MgO–O3 with NO2 or NH3, the produced sulfate, nitrate or ammonium could increase with increasing NO2 or NH3 levels, respectively, and the synergistic effects of NH3 and O3 on sulfate heterogeneous formations were clearly higher than those of NO2 and O3. Note that NH3 was an important factor influencing sulfate heterogeneous formations, and the synergistic impacts of NH3 and UV light were larger than those of NH3 and O3 being larger than those of NH3 and dark. NO2 was also a main factor influencing sulfate heterogeneous formations, and the synergistic impacts of NO2 and UV light were larger than those of NO2 and O3, and far higher than those of NO2 and dark. The size distributions of sulfate produced in the three systems with NO2 all presented a single-peak profile. However, the size distributions of sulfate produced in the three reaction systems with NH3 mostly presented a multi-peak profile.

Graphical abstract: Significant impacts of NO2 and NH3 on the sulfate formations on the surface of nano MgO particles in a smog chamber

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Febr. 2022
Accepted
20 Maijs 2022
First published
23 Maijs 2022

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2022,9, 2470-2487

Significant impacts of NO2 and NH3 on the sulfate formations on the surface of nano MgO particles in a smog chamber

L. Han, J. Cui, X. Liu, X. Yang, S. Cheng, W. Wei, H. Wang, J. Guo and A. Zheng, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2022, 9, 2470 DOI: 10.1039/D2EN00142J

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