Photochemical ageing of aerosols contributes significantly to the production of atmospheric formic acid

Jiang, Yifan; Xia, Men; Wang, Zhe; Zheng, Penggang; Chen, Yi; Wang, Tao

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14813-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14813-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14813-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 23

Research article

|

01 Dec 2023

Research article |

| 01 Dec 2023

Photochemical ageing of aerosols contributes significantly to the production of atmospheric formic acid

Yifan Jiang, Men Xia, Zhe Wang, Penggang Zheng, Yi Chen, and Tao Wang

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https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14813-2023-supplement

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Photochemical aging of aerosols contributes significantly to the production of atmospheric formic acid Yifan Jiang, Men Xia, Zhe Wang, Penggang Zheng, Yi Chen, and Tao Wang https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8415792

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Short summary

This study provides the first estimate of high rates of formic acid (HCOOH) production from the photochemical aging of real ambient particles and demonstrates the potential importance of this pathway in the formation of HCOOH under ambient conditions. Incorporating this pathway significantly improved the performance of a widely used chemical model. Our solution irradiation experiments demonstrated the importance of nitrate photolysis in HCOOH production via the production of oxidants.