The key role of nanoparticle concentration gradient in aerosol initial growth
New particle formation has been estimated to produce more than half of the global cloud condensation nuclei and profoundly impacts clouds, climate, and air quality. The initial growth from the cluster size ( ~ 1 nm) to a few nanometers, for which the underlying mechanisms can be very different from the subsequent growth, is the most critical stage for new particles to become climate-relevant. However, initial growth mechanisms evidenced by controlled laboratory experiments can rarely explain observations from the real atmosphere. Here we show that a large nanoparticle concentration gradient in the size space can drive unexpected rapid initial growth based on measurements across the globe. It accelerates the condensation of globally abundant oxygenated organic molecules onto a population of new particles compared to a single particle, and substantially increases the fraction of new particles that survive to climate- and air-quality-relevant sizes. Our findings provide insights into explaining the puzzle of the frequent new particle formation events in polluted urban environments and indicate an even more important role of new particle formation in climate predictions.
Authors
- Juha Kangasluoma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1639-1187)
- Sara M. Blichner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9055-5330)
- Dan Dan Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2878-7469)
- Nina Sarnela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1874-3235)
- Santeri Tuovinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8092-5358)
- Lauri Reino Ahonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2534-6898)
- Yi Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1058-0382)
- Huang Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4582-6434)
- Lei Yao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5840-8242)
- Rujing Yin
- Runlong Cai
- Paul M. Winkler
- Yuyang Li
- Xiaoxiao Li
- Qiaozhi Zha
- Wei Nie
- Jin Wu
- Tuukka Petäjä
- Aijun Ding
- Markku Kulmala
- Lin Wang
- Zhe Wang
- Chao Yan
- Jing Cai
- Veli-Matti Kerminen
- Jingkun Jiang
- Dominik Stolzenburg
- Sebastian Holm
- Jianmin Chen
- Douglas Worsnop
Institutions
- University of Vienna (AT)
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Nanjing University of Finance and Economics (CN)
- TU Wien (AT)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Dalian University of Technology (CN)
- Helsinki Institute of Physics (FI)
- Wuhan University (CN)
- Aerodyne Research (US)
- Shanghai Academy of Environmental Sciences (CN)
- Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE)
- Beijing Advanced Sciences and Innovation Center (CN)
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-03-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70082-2
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Helsingin Yliopisto
- European Commission
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Vienna Science and Technology Fund
- Jane ja Aatos Erkon Säätiö
- Vetenskapsrådet
- Teknologiateollisuuden 100-Vuotisjuhlasäätiö