刘子锐1，3， 何政育1，3， 马伊辰2， 王启元2
1.State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment and Extreme Meteorology， Institute of Atmospheric Physics， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Beijing 100029， China； 2.National Observation and Research Station of Regional Ecological Environment Changes and Comprehensive Management in the Guanzhong Plain， Shaanxi， Institute of Earth Environment， Chinese Academy of Sciences， Xi’an 710061， China； 3.College of Earth and Planetary Sciences， University of Chinese Academy of Sciences， Beijing 100049， China
Abstract
Significance Atmospheric aerosols influence the Earth system through direct radiative interactions and aerosol-cloud feedbacks while degrading air quality and threatening public health. Accurate measurement of their physical properties， optical properties， and chemical composition therefore provides the observational foundation for source apportionment， mechanistic understanding， and climate and health impact assessment. Meanwhile， China’s aerosol measurement capability has evolved from offline characterization of total suspended particles to comprehensive online， networked， and spaceborne systems. This review systematically summarizes advances in measurement techniques in physical properties， optical properties， and chemical composition， analyzes technical breakthroughs and application progress both domestically and internationally， highlights the representative contributions of Chinese scholars， and outlines future research directions.
Progress For physical properties， number-concentration measurement based on diffusion charging and condensation particle counting is reviewed. Chinese institutions have achieved notable breakthroughs. An ion-trap-based opposed-flow charging technique coupled with a low-noise （0.31 fA） and wide-dynamic-range （± 500 pA） aerosol electrometer underpins the domestically industrialized counter AGHJ-PN100 for vehicle emission regulation. The diethylene glycol-based CPC developed at Tsinghua University has extended the detection cutoff diameter （D50） down to 1 nm， reaching the molecular cluster scale. A butanol-based CPC with a tunable D50 （4.5-26 nm） has been developed at CAS Hefei. Particle size distribution measurement now forms an online real-time measurement system spanning OPS， APS， SMPS， ELPI+， and the 1-Hz fast integrated mobility spectrometer （FIMS）. Methodological advances include the innovative application of positive matrix factorization to particle number size distributions for source apportionment of number concentrations， online SMPS-TEOM measurements of PM2.5 apparent density and dynamic shape factor， and multi-instrument campaigns quantifying the conversion from new particle formation to CCN. Single-particle imaging using ESEM/ETEM， optical tweezers， and SPR or Bloch surface wave microscopy now resolves hygroscopic growth and phase transitions of sub-100-nm particles， complementing the H-TDMA benchmark technique and the DAASS measurement system for aerosol liquid water content.For optical properties， the construction of the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network （CARSNET， with more than 80 stations， AOD uncertainty better than 0.01 for τ<0.5） and the SONET network， whose GRASP-based inversion retrieves aerosol component information （black carbon， brown carbon， and dust）， is summarized. Lidar and satellite sensors， including MODIS， MISR， OMI， China’s GF-5 Directional Polarimetric Camera （DPC）， and FY-4 AGRI， are also reviewed. A landmark achievement is the Daqi-1 （DQ-1） satellite， launched in April 2022 carrying ACDL， the world’s first spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar， which separates Mie and Rayleigh scattering using an iodine-vapor filter to retrieve aerosol extinction without assuming a lidar ratio. Validation against the Belt and Road ground-based lidar network has yielded relative deviations of （-10.5±25.4）% （attenuated backscatter） and -6.0% ± 38.5% （volume depolarization）， showing high consistency with CALIPSO. In situ techniques are further reviewed， including filter-based absorption photometry （Aethalometer and MAAP）， photoacoustic spectroscopy （PAS）， and cavity-attenuated phase-shift spectroscopy （CAPS）. These techniques include an airborne dual-wavelength CAPS single-scattering-albedo monitor （A2S2， 450/630 nm， detection limits of ≈1-2 Mm-1 at 1 Hz）， a 365-nm CAPS-PMSSA monitor for near-UV brown-carbon characterization， and a field-deployable cantilever-enhanced three-wavelength photoacoustic instrument （detection limits of 0.016-0.041 Mm-1）， jointly enabling filter-free extinction-scattering-absorption closure for SSA and BrC-BC absorption attribution.For chemical composition， the revolutionary role of the aerosol mass spectrometer （AMS/ACSM） in the real-time characterization of non-refractory submicron aerosols is reviewed， together with its extensive applications in China， including four-season source and process analyses in the North China Plain and SP-AMS constraints on black-carbon mixing state. Single-particle mass spectrometry has advanced through the domestically developed high-power SPAMS （HP-SPAMS， 355 nm， >1 mJ UV laser）， which substantially improves the detection of refractory black carbon and mineral dust. Soft-ionization and molecular-level techniques are highlighted： extractive electrospray ionization TOF-MS （EESI-TOF-MS） for near-artifact-free SOA measurement， PTR-TOF-MS for precursor alkane detection， MALDI-TOF-MS revealing the fundamental role of high-molecular-weight oligomers in Beijing haze， and Orbitrap MS resolving thousands of organic molecular formulas. Molecular spectroscopy contributions include two-dimensional correlation FTIR for the hygroscopic microdynamics of mixed nanoparticles， micro-Raman mapping of particle mixing states， and split-mode microcavity Raman lasers extending single-particle Raman detection down to 20 nm.
Conclusions and Prospects It is concluded that Chinese scholars have established systematic technological contributions across the full measurement chain—from in situ physicochemical characterization and ground-based monitoring networks （CARSNET， SONET， and the CARE-China network） to spaceborne active remote sensing （DQ-1/ACDL）， and from bulk-parameter measurement to single-particle and single-nanoparticle analysis. These contributions have progressed from tracking international developments to leading selected directions， including 1-nm condensation particle counting， SPR-based single-nanoparticle observation， spaceborne high-spectral-resolution lidar， and soft-ionization mass spectrometry. Nevertheless， challenges remain： the localization rate of high-end instruments is still insufficient， multi-parameter integrated measurement capability is limited， and measurement uncertainty evaluation systems are yet to be completed.Future efforts are expected to focus on： 1） multi-parameter integrated characterization， achieving simultaneous measurement of physical， optical， and chemical parameters of fine particles， with breakthroughs in the localization of core components such as mass spectrometer ion sources and high-resolution detectors； 2） rapid measurement of dynamic processes， developing photoelectric techniques with sub-second-to-millisecond time resolution and multi-technique integrated platforms to capture nucleation， growth， and heterogeneous chemistry in near real time； and 3） high-performance micro/nano sensing—developing miniaturized， low-cost， high-performance particulate sensors for intelligent environmental monitoring and health-risk perception， coupled with expanding applications of artificial intelligence in aerosol data mining， source apportionment， and prediction. Together with network standardization， intercomparison， and closure-based quality assurance， these directions will provide robust scientific and technological support for the “Beautiful China” initiative and the goals of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality.
Keywords： aerosol； atmospheric particle； diffusion charging method； condensation particle； aerodynamics； low-pressure impaction； single-particle imaging； hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility
Get Citation: Liu Zirui， He Zhengyu， Ma Yichen， et al. Research progress on atmospheric aerosol measurement techniques［J］. China Powder Science and Technology， 2027， 33（2）： 1-19.
Received：2026-08-07， Revised： 2026-09-02，Online： 2026-09-24。
Funding： The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42275120), the National Science and Technology Major Project (Grant Nos. 2026ZD1210903 & 2026ZD1209001), the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Project on Ecology and Environment (Grant No. BJST20250105), and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2023-JC-JQ-2).
CLC No.: X515； X831； TB44
Type Code：A
Serial No.：1008-5548（2027）02-0001-19
