Publications by authors named "Hefan Liu"

Article Synopsis
  • * A machine learning model incorporating chemical mechanisms was developed to analyze two years of urban observations, helping to assess different contributions to HONO and infer important kinetic parameters.
  • * The study found that during summer, photolysis of nitric acid on surfaces is the major daytime source of HONO, highlighting the effectiveness of machine learning in understanding atmospheric chemistry.
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Air quality models (AQMs) are pivotal in forecasting air quality and shaping pollution control strategies. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of AQMs is often compromised in many cities due to the absence of accurate local emission inventories. To address this gap, this study presents a novel AQM-ready emission inventory generation technique with iterative optimization ability for city-scale applications in China.

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Article Synopsis
  • The sensitivity of tropospheric ozone (O) to its precursors, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO), is crucial for determining effective emission reduction strategies.
  • Researchers developed an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based vertical measurement system to study the distribution of O sensitivity in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), revealing a shift from VOC-limited at ground level to NO-limited in upper layers.
  • Findings indicate that existing photochemical models may underestimate oxygenated VOCs at higher altitudes and overestimate VOC-limited conditions, highlighting the need for comprehensive vertical measurements for better O control strategies.
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Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzes the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on air quality in Chengdu from January 23 to March 14, 2020, by measuring photochemical precursors and comparing them to data from the previous two years.
  • The analysis shows that while concentrations of reactive species like OH, HO, and RO increased significantly due to reduced nitrogen oxides, the overall atmospheric oxidation capacity only saw a slight rise.
  • The findings suggest that controlling alkene emissions is crucial to prevent secondary pollution, which may be relevant for other regions in China amidst the shift towards electric vehicles.
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Nitrous acid (HONO) is an established precursor of hydroxyl (OH) radical and has significant impacts on the formation of PM and O. Despite extensive research on HONO observation in recent years, knowledge regarding its sources and sinks in urban areas remains inadequate. In this study, we monitored the atmospheric concentrations of HONO and related pollutants, including gaseous nitric acid and particulate nitrate, simultaneously at a supersite in downtown Chengdu, a megacity in southwestern China during spring, when was chosen due to its tolerance for both PM and O pollution.

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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are significant precursors to photochemical pollution. However, reactive VOC species are easily oxidized during transportation, resulting in a systematic underestimate of the measured concentrations. To address this, we applied an improved calculation method to correct the measured VOC concentrations into photochemical initial concentrations (PICs) in Chengdu, a megacity in the Sichuan Basin, China, which is highly vulnerable to complex pollution.

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Integral to the urban ecosystem, greening trees provide many ecological benefits, but the active biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) they release contribute to the production of ozone and secondary organic aerosols, which harm ambient air quality. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the BVOC emission characteristics of dominant greening tree species and their relative contribution to secondary pollutants in various urban contexts. Consequently, this study utilized a dynamic enclosure system to collect BVOC samples of seven dominant greening tree species in urban Chengdu, Southwest China.

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Surface ozone (O) has become a critical pollutant impeding air quality improvement in many Chinese megacities. Chengdu is a megacity located in Sichuan Basin in southwest China, where O pollution occurs frequently in both spring and summer. In order to understand the elevated O during spring in Chengdu, we conducted sampling campaign at three sites during O pollution episodes in April.

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Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) are important intermediates in the troposphere and the most important sources of ozone. Proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) was used to measure VOCs in the Chengdu Plain, Southwestern China. The diurnal variations, photochemical reactivity, O formation potential, and sources were also investigated.

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Photolysis of nitrous acid (HONO) is one of the major sources for atmospheric hydroxyl radicals (OH), playing significant role in initiating tropospheric photochemical reactions for ozone (O) production. However, scarce field investigations were conducted to elucidate this effect. In this study, a field campaign was conducted at a suburban site in southwest China.

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As important pollution gases and represented precursors of both ozone and second organic aerosol (SOA), the component characteristics, source origins, environmental health and emission control of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), are gaining more and more attention in Chinese megacities. In order to understand the concentration, composition and temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of VOCs in the atmosphere of Chengdu, a megacity located in Sichuan basin in southwest China, the offline sampling measurements of VOCs were carried out at 28 different field sites covering all the districts and counties of Chengdu during special periods from May 2016 to January 2017. Speciated VOCs measurement was performed by the GC-FID/MS, and 99 species were identified.

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In order to evaluate the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pollution characteristics in Chengdu and to identify their sources, ambient air sample collection and measurement were conducted at 28 sampling sites covering all districts/counties of Chengdu from May 2016 to January 2017. Meanwhile, a county-level anthropogenic speciated VOCs emission inventory was established by "bottom-up" method for 2016. Then, a comparison was made between the VOCs emissions, spatial variations, and source structures derived from the measurement and emission inventory.

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To examine the impacts of fireworks, size-resolved PM samples were collected using a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer before, during and after the Spring Festival in a megacity in Chengdu, China. Chemical composition and atmospheric behavior of urban particles were studied. Ten major single particle types were resolved with ART-2a algorithm including elemental and organic carbon (ECOC), EC, OC, levoglucosan (LEV), high molecular weight organic molecules (HOM), hard metal (HM), K rich, Na rich and SiO.

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In order to research the effect of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis on the results in the sample’s micro particles, MCNPX models had been established for an X-ray fluorescence analyzer in this paper. It had studied the characteristics of the samples with different particle sizes, the fluorescence peak counts, the peak to total ratios and the peak to source ratios. A micro particle analysis experiment had been designed for its verification.

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Monitoring atmospheric particulate matter requires real-time analysis, such as particulate matter's concentrations, their element types and contents. An analyzer which is based on β and X rays analysis techniques is designed to meet those demands. Applying β-ray attenuation law and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis principle, the paper introduces the analyzer's overall design scheme, structure, FPGA circuit hardware and software for the analyzer.

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