Rapid sulfuric acid–dimethylamine nucleation enhanced by nitric acid in polluted regions

Abstract

Recent research [Wang et al., Nature 581, 184–189 (2020)] indicates nitric acid (NA) can participate in sulfuric acid (SA)–ammonia (NH3) nucleation in the clean and cold upper free troposphere, whereas NA exhibits no obvious effects at the boundary layer with relatively high temperatures. Herein, considering that an SA–dimethylamine (DMA) nucleation mechanism was detected in megacities [Yao et al., Science 361, 278–281 (2018)], the roles of NA in SA-DMA nucleation are investigated. Different from SA-NH3 nucleation, we found that NA can enhance SA-DMA–based particle formation rates in the polluted atmospheric boundary layer, such as Beijing in winter, with the enhancement up to 80-fold. Moreover, we found that NA can promote the number concentrations of nucleation clusters (up to 27-fold) and contribute 76% of cluster formation pathways at 280 K. The enhancements on particle formation by NA are critical for particulate pollution in the polluted boundary layer with relatively high NA and DMA concentrations.