One-year observation of the mixing states of oxygenated organics-containing single particles in Guangzhou, China

Highlights

● The OOM particles exhibited characteristics similar to those of the SOC in summer.

● The OOM particles were enriched with secondary species.

● The organics were more oxygenated in October than in January.

● Few hydrocarbon species were found in EC-OOM particles due to photochemistry.

Abstract

Oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) play an important role in the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs), but the mixing states of OOMs are still unclear. This study investigates the mixing states of OOM-containing single particles from the measurements taken using a single particle aerosol mass spectrometer in Guangzhou, China in 2022. Generally, the particle counts of OOM particles and the mass concentration of secondary organic carbon (SOC) exhibited similar temporal trends throughout the entire year. The OOM particles were consistently enriched in secondary ions, including ¹⁶O⁻, ²⁶CN⁻, ⁴⁶NO₂⁻, ⁶²NO₃⁻, and ⁹⁷HSO₄⁻. In contrast, the number fractions and diurnal patterns of OOM particles among the total detected particles showed similar distributions in August and October; however, the SOC ratios in fine particulate matter were quite different, suggesting that there were different mixing states of single-particle oxygenated organics. In addition, further classification results indicated that the OOM particles were more aged in October than August, even though the SOC ratios were higher in August. Furthermore, the distribution of hydrocarbon fragments exhibited a notable decrease from January to October, emphasizing the more aged state of the organics in October. In addition, the sharp increase in elemental carbon (EC)-OOM particles in the afternoon in October suggests the potential role of EC in the aging process of organics. Overall, in contrast to the bulk analysis of SOC mass concentration, the mixing states of the OOM particles provide insights into the formation process of SOAs in field studies.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Oxygenated organics / Single particles / Mixing state / Secondary formation / Photochemistry

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Author Contributions

Liyuan Mao, Chenglei Pei, and Chunlei Cheng: Sampling, methodology, writing of original draft, and revision of the manuscript. Sulin Liu, Xiaoya Cheng, and Duanying Chen: Sampling and data analysis. Suxia Yang, Mei Li, and Zhen Zhou: Discussion and revision of the manuscript.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41827804 and 41805093), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (China) (No. 2021A1515011206), the State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in the South China Sea, Hainan University (China) (No. MRUKF2023009), and the State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, CAS (No. SKLLQG2218).

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest

Data availability

The observational data, including SPAMS, and the meteorological parameters obtained in this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request ([e-mail]).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1824-3 and is accessible for authorized users.

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