Effects of inorganic seed aerosols on the growth and chemical composition of secondary organic aerosol formed from OH-initiated oxidation of toluene

(NH4)2SO4, CaCl2, Na2SiO3 and NaNO3 were selected as surrogates of inorganic seed aerosols of ambient atmosphere of Chinese urban areas, respectively, to study their effects on the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in the toluene/CH3ONO/NOx photooxidation system. The SMPS and aerosol laser time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ALTOFMS) was used to measure the aerodynamic size and chemical composition of individual SOA particles in real-time. Experimental results indicate that either the growth or products of SOA is affected by the presence of inorganic seed aerosol. Inorganic seed aerosols would promote growth rates of SOA formation at the start of the reaction and inhibits its formation rate with prolonging the reaction time. In the case of about 100 μg m−3 seed aerosol load, the addition of Na2SiO3 induced a same growth rate of SOA formation as NaNO3. The influence of four individual seed aerosols on the generation of SOA decreased in the order of CaCl2 > (NH4)2SO4 > NaNO3, Na2SiO3. The presence of Na2SiO3 or NaNO3 has no obvious effect on the growth rates of SOA formation, but it does increase the yield of organic acid and nitrogen-containing organic compounds, respectively. Besides the significantly effect on the growth rate of SOA formation, the presence of CaCl2 or (NH4)2SO4 can lead to the formation of high-molecular weight species which is found to be positively correlated with the hygroscopic behavior of seed aerosols. The CaCl2 shows the strongest hygroscopic behavior among the four individual seed aerosols, and the most significant promotion effect on the formation of the high-molecular weight species. It is proposed that the SOA generation enhancement and high-molecular weight products are achieved by particle-phase heterogeneous reactions induced and catalyzed by the acidity of CaCl2 and (NH4)2SO4 seed aerosols.