Aerosol phase reactions play a very important role on secondary organic aerosol （SOA） formation, and metal-containing aerosols are important components in the atmosphere. In this study, we tested the effects of two transition metal sulfate salts, manganese sulfate （MnSO4） and zinc sulfate （ZnSO4）, on the photochemical reactions of a toluene/NOx photooxidation system in a 2 m3 smog chamber. By comparing photochemical reaction products of experiments with and without transition metal sulfate seed aerosols, we evaluated the effects of transition metal sulfate seed aerosols on toluene consumption, NOx conversion and the formation of ozone and SOA. MnSO4 and ZnSO4 seed aerosols were found to have similar effects on photochemical reactions, both enhance the SOA production, while showing negligible effects on the gas phase compounds. These observations are consistent when varying metal sulfate aerosol concentrations. This is attributed to the catalytic effects of MnSO4 and ZnSO4 seed aerosols which may enhance the formation of condensable semivolatile compounds. Their subsequent partitioning into the aerosol phase leads to the observed SOA formation enhancement.
Smog chamber experiments were conducted to investigate the hygroscopicity of particles generated from photooxidation of α-pinene/NOx with diferent sulfate seed aerosols or oxidation conditions. Hygroscopicity of particles was measured by a tandem diferential mobility analyzer(TDMA) in terms of hygroscopic growth factor(Gf), with a relative humidity of 85%. With sulfate seed aerosols present, Gf of the aerosols decreased very fast before notable secondary organic aerosols(SOA) formation was observed, indicating a heterogeneous process between inorganic seeds and organic products might take place as soon as oxidation begins, rather than only happening after gas-aerosol partition of organic products starts. The final SOA-coated sulfate particles had similar or lower Gf than seed-free SOA. The hygroscopicity of the final particles was not dependent on the thickness but on the hygroscopicity properties of the SOA, which were influenced by the initial sulfate seed particles. In the two designed aging processes, Gf of the particles increased more significantly with introduction of OH radical than with ozone. However, the hygroscopicity of SOA was very low even after a long time of aging, implying that either SOA aging in the chamber was very slow or the Gf of SOA did not change significantly in aging. Using an aerosol composition speciation monitor(ACSM) and matrix factorization(PMF) method, two factors for the components of SOA were identified, but the correlation between SOA hygroscopicity and the proportion of the more highly oxidized factor could be either positive or negative depending on the speciation of seed aerosols present.
