Atmospheric particle mass alone does not fully capture the health relevance of aerosol. We investigate the oxidative potential of water-soluble fraction of PM2.5, the chemical fractionation, solubility, bioavailability, and estimated health risks of particle-bound trace elements, and the occurrence and health risks of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We also characterize particle number and size distributions and assess respiratory deposition to evaluate aerosol properties that are not adequately represented by mass concentration alone.
A central focus is whether energy transitions and air-pollution-control measures reduce the full range of health-relevant aerosol characteristics. Our studies examine how residential coal-to-gas conversion alters trace-element composition, bioavailability, and estimated health risks. Recent work combining controlled combustion experiments, field observations, atmospheric modelling, and lung-deposition analysis showed that low-smoke residential fuels can reduce particulate mass emissions while increasing ultrafine-particle number emissions by two to three times, resulting in a greater contribution to estimated lung-deposited particle numbers. These findings highlight the need to consider particle number and chemical composition alongside particle mass in air-quality management.
Representative publications
1. Lin, C. S., Ceburnis, D., Trubetskaya, A., Lei, L., Wang, S., Liu, Y., Yuan, W., Cui, H. T., Smith, W., Johnson, R., Fossum, K. N., Lebedev, V., Carré, V., Monaghan, R. F. D., Worsnop, D., Morawska, L., Wang, T., Huang, R. J.*, O’dowd, C.*, Ovadnevaite, J.*: Low-smoke fuels for residential heating linked to an increase in ultrafine particle emissions, Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/s41561-026-01942-1, 2026.
2. Huang, R. J.*, Cheng, R., Jing, M., Yang, L., Li, Y. J., Chen, Q., Chen, Y., Yan, J., Lin, C., Wu, Y., Zhang, R., El Haddad, I., Prevot, A. S. H., O’Dowd, C. D., Cao, J.: Source-specific health risk analysis on particulate trace elements: Coal combustion and traffic emission as major contributors in wintertime Beijing, Environ. Sci. Technol., 52, 10967-10974, 2018.
3. Yuang, W., Huang, R. J.*, Luo, C., Yang, L., Cao, W. J., Guo, J., Yang, H. N.: Measurement report: Oxidation potential of water-soluble aerosol components in the south and north of Beijing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13219-13230, 2024.
4. Yuan, W., Huang, R. J.*, Duan, J., Guo, J., Cao, W. J., Wang, T., Ren, J. Y., Zhan, Y. N., Xu, W.: Changes in source-specific health risks of PM2.5-bound trace elements after the residential “coal-to-gas” conversion measure in urban Beijing, J. Environ. Sci., DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2025.10.019, 2025.
5. Lin, C. S., Huang, R. J.*, Duan, J., Zhong, H. B., Xu, W.: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from cooking emissions, Sci. Total Environ., 818, 151700, 2022.
