Important contribution of N2O5 hydrolysis to the daytime nitrate in Xi' an, China during haze periods: Isotopic analysis and WRF-Chem model simulation

Nitrate, as one of the major components of tropospheric aerosols, plays a crucial role in winter haze formation. While, the formation mechanism of the high production of nitrate in Chinese megacities is still not fully understood. To quantify the contributions of major formation pathways to nitrate, airborne particles in Xi'an, inland China during the winter of 2017 were measured and analyzed for the water-soluble ions and stable nitrogen/oxygen isotope compositions of nitrate in PM2.5, followed by a WRF-Chem model simulation. The oxygen isotopic results indicated that N2O5 hydrolysis was an important formation pathway for the daytime nitrate in the haze episodes. The model simulation further revealed that N2O5 hydrolysis contribution increased from 8.2% to 20.5% of the total nitrate over 14:00-16:00 p.m., clearly showing that N2O5 formation followed by a heterogeneous hydrolysis to nitrate can effectively proceed in daytime under the abundantly co-existing O-3, NO2 and NH3 conditions.

Automated summary

This study shows that N2O5 hydrolysis is an important pathway for nitrate formation in Chinese megacities, especially during haze episodes, as demonstrated by measurements and simulations.