The particle size and chemical composition of bioaerosol were analyzed based on single particle aerosol mass spectrometer. Fungal aerosol of 10 μm was measured for the first time and the characteristic spectrum of bioaerosol was updated. The ion peak ratio method can distinguish bioaerosols from interferers by 97 %. The factors influencing the differentiation of bioaerosols are also discussed. Single particle mass spectrometry can be a new method for real-time identification of bioaerosols.

We analyzed the chemical composition and mixing state of BC-containing particles at urban and rural sites in winter in the North China Plain and evaluated their impact on light absorption enhancement. BC was dominantly mixed with organic carbon, nitrate, and sulfate, and the mixing state evolved significantly as a function of relative humidity (RH) at both sites. The absorption enhancement depended strongly on coated secondary inorganic aerosol and was up to ~1.3–1.4 during aging processes.

Heterogeneous oxidation of SO₂ is suggested to be one of the most important pathways for sulfate formation during extreme haze events in China, yet the exact mechanism remains highly uncertain. Our study reveals that ubiquitous compounds at the sea surface PAHS and DMSO, when exposed to SO₂ under simulated sunlight irradiation, generate abundant organic sulfur compounds, providing implications for air-sea interaction and secondary organic aerosols formation processes.

Biomass burning (BB) is a global phenomenon that releases large quantities of pollutants such as phenols and aromatic carbonyls into the atmosphere. These compounds can form secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) which play an important role in the Earth’s energy budget. In this work, we demonstrated that the direct irradiation of vanillin (VL) could generate aqueous SOA (aqSOA) such as oligomers. In the presence of nitrate, VL photo-oxidation can also form nitrated compounds.

Particulate amines play important roles in new particle formation, aerosol acidity, and hygroscopicity. Most of the field observations did not distinguish the different behavior of each type amine under the same ambient influencing factors. In this study, two amine-containing single particles exhibited different mixing states and disparate enrichment of secondary organics, which provide insight into the discriminated fates of organics during the formation and evolution processes.

Ships are major sources of air pollution; however, monitoring of ship emissions outside harbours is a challenging task. We optimized single-particle mass spectrometry (SPMS) for the detection of bunker fuel emissions and demonstrate the detection of individual ship plumes from more than 10 km in distance. The approach works independently of background air pollution and also when ships use exhaust-cleaning scrubbers. We discuss the potential and limits of SPMS-based monitoring of ship plumes.

We build a novel system that utilizes an aerodynamic aerosol classifier (AAC) combined with a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometry (SPAMS) to simultaneously characterize the volume equivalent diameter (D_ve), chemical compositions, and effective density (ρ_e) of individual particles in real time. A test of the AAC-SPAMS with both spherical and aspherical particles shows that the deviations between the measured and theoretical values are less than 6 %.

Based on the analysis of the morphology and mixing structure of the activated and unactivated particles, our results emphasize the role of in-cloud processes in the chemistry and microphysical properties of individual activated particles. Given that organic coatings may determine the particle hygroscopicity and heterogeneous chemical reactivity, the increase of OM-shelled particles upon in-cloud processes should have considerable implications for their evolution and climate impact.