Simultaneous Determination of Aerosol Inorganic and Organic Nitrogen by Thermal Evolution and Chemiluminescence DetectionClick to copy article linkArticle link copied!
- Xu YuXu YuDivision of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Xu Yu
- Qianfeng LiQianfeng LiDepartment of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Qianfeng Li
- Yao GeYao GeDepartment of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Yao Ge
- Yumin LiYumin LiDivision of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaDepartment of Environmental Science & Engineering, Southern University of Science & Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518000, ChinaMore by Yumin Li
- Kezheng LiaoKezheng LiaoDepartment of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Kezheng Liao
- Xiaohui Hilda HuangXiaohui Hilda HuangDivision of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Xiaohui Hilda Huang
- Jinjian LiJinjian LiDivision of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Jinjian Li
- Jian Zhen Yu*Jian Zhen Yu*Email: [email protected]Division of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaDepartment of Chemistry, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong 999077, ChinaMore by Jian Zhen Yu
Abstract
Inorganic nitrogen (IN) and organic nitrogen (ON) molecules constitute a significant part of atmospheric aerosol. Unlike IN, the total ON quantity remains largely unquantified due to a lack of a simple and direct measurement method. This analytical deficiency hinders the quantitative assessment of the various environmental and health effect impacts by aerosol ON. In this work, we developed an analyzer system that utilizes programmed thermal evolution of carbonaceous and nitrogenous aerosols and chemiluminescence detection coupled with the multivariate curve resolution data treatment to achieve simultaneous quantification of IN and ON. The system is capable of detecting IN and ON as low as 96 ng N per sample on a small filter aliquot (1 cm2) without any pretreatment. This method breakthrough opens the door to quantifying an important pool of aerosol N that was analytically inaccessible in the past and holds the promise to quantifying IN and ON in other environmental samples. As a demonstration, quantification of aerosol ON at an urban site in Hong Kong, China, in samples spanning over a year reveals ON constituting a significant fraction (9–52%) of the total aerosol nitrogen and having major source origins in both secondary formation and primary emissions.
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