Techniques and instruments used for real-time analysis of atmospheric nanoscale molecular clusters: A review

The extremely high concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic meter ≤ 2.5 μm) during severe and persistent haze events in China have been closely related to the formation of secondary aerosols (SA). New particle formation (NPF) is the critical initial step of SA formation. New particles are commonly formed from gas-phase precursors (e.g., SO2, volatile organic compounds) via nucleation and initial growth, in which molecular clusters with a mobility diameter smaller than 3 nm (hereafter referred to nanoscale molecular clusters) will be involved throughout the whole process. Recently, significant breakthroughs have been obtained on NPF studies, which are mostly attributed to the technical development in the real-time analysis of size-resolved number concentration and chemical composition of nanoscale molecular clusters. Regarding the detection of size-resolved number concentrations of nanoscale molecular clusters, both methods and instruments have been well built up; practical application in laboratory-scale experiments and field measurements have also been successfully demonstrated. In contrast, real-time analysis of chemical composition of nanoscale molecular clusters has still encountered the great challenges caused by the complex organic compositions of the clusters, and improvement of present analytical strategies is urgently required. The better understanding in NPF will not only benefit the atmospheric modeling and climate predictions but also the source control of SA.