Filter samples of fine particulate matters were collected at four sites in northern China (urban, rural, and mountain) in summer and winter, and the contents of nine nitrated phenols were quantified in the laboratory with the use of ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. During the sampling periods, the concentrations of particulate nitrated phenols exhibited distinct temporal and spatial variation. On average, the total concentration of particulate nitrated phenols in urban Jinan in the wintertime reached 48.4 ng m⁻³, and those in the summertime were 9.8, 5.7, 5.9, and 2.5 ng m⁻³ in urban Jinan, rural Yucheng and Wangdu, and Mt. Tai, respectively. The elevated concentrations of nitrated phenols in wintertime and in urban areas demonstrate the apparent influences of anthropogenic sources. The positive matrix factorization receptor model was then applied to determine the origins of particulate nitrated phenols in northern China. The five major source factors were traffic, coal combustion, biomass burning, secondary formation, and aged coal combustion plume. Among them, coal combustion played a vital role, especially at the urban site in the wintertime, with a contribution of around 55 %. In the summertime, the observed nitrated phenols were highly influenced by aged coal combustion plumes at all of the sampling sites. Meanwhile, in remote areas, contributions from secondary formation were significant. Further correlation analysis indicates that nitrosalicylic acids were produced mostly from secondary formation that was dominated by NO₂ nitration.

Characteristics and sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were investigated with highly time-resolved simultaneous measurements by two proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometers (PTR-ToF-MS) at an urban and a suburban site in New Delhi, India, from January to March 2018. During the measurement period, high mixing ratios of VOCs and trace gases were observed, with high nocturnal mixing ratios and strong day–night variations. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) receptor model was applied separately to the two sites, and six major factors of VOCs were identified at both sites, i.e., two factors related to traffic emissions, two to solid fuel combustion, and two secondary factors. At the urban site, traffic-related emissions comprising mostly mono-aromatic compounds were the dominant sources, contributing 56.6 % of the total mixing ratio, compared to 36.0 % at the suburban site. Emissions from various solid fuel combustion processes, particularly in the night, were identified as a significant source of aromatics, phenols and furans at both sites. The secondary factors accounted for 15.9 % of the total VOC concentration at the urban site and for 33.6 % at the suburban site. They were dominated by oxygenated VOCs and exhibited substantially higher contributions during daytime.

In recent years, intense haze events in megacities such as Beijing have received significant attention. Although secondary organic aerosol (SOA) has been identified as a major contributor to such events, knowledge of its sources and formation mechanisms remains uncertain. We investigate this question through the first field deployment of the extractive electrospray ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF) in Beijing, together with an Aerodyne long-time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (L-TOF AMS). Measurements were performed during autumn and winter 2017, capturing the transition from non-heating to heating seasons. Source apportionment resolved four factors related to primary organic aerosols (traffic, cooking, biomass burning, and coal combustion), as well as four related to SOA. Of the SOA factors, two were related to solid fuel combustion (SFC), one to SOA generated from aqueous chemistry, and one to mixed/indeterminate sources. The SFC factors were identified from spectral signatures corresponding to aromatic oxidation products, while the aqueous SOA factor was characterised by signatures of small organic acids and diacids and unusually low ${\mathrm{CO}}^{+}/{\mathrm{CO}}_{\mathrm{2}}^{+}$ fragment ratios measured by the AMS. Solid fuel combustion was the dominant source of SOA during the heating season. However, a comparably intense haze event was also observed in the non-heating season and was dominated by the aqueous SOA factor. During this event, aqueous chemistry was promoted by the combination of high relative humidity and air masses passing over high-NO_x regions to the south and east of Beijing, leading to high particulate nitrate. The resulting high liquid water content was highly correlated with the concentration of the aqueous SOA factor. These results highlight the strong compositional variability between different haze events, indicating the need to consider multiple formation pathways and precursor sources to describe SOA during intense haze events in Beijing.