Environmental context. The export of various man-made pollutants from northern India has a large impact on aerosol formation processes, their transformations and regional environmental chemistry over tropical peninsular India. The quantitative source apportionment of organic aerosols performed in this study provides a better understanding of their sources and implications for climate and air-quality management policies in South Asia.

Environmental context. Contaminants adsorbed in aerosols are transported and deposited effectively to the respiratory system compared to their vapours. Measuring the extremely low concentration of highly volatile contaminants contained in aerosols is challenging; hence assessing their adverse effects on environmental and human health is less understood. The measured concentrations of these contaminants are similar to less volatile chemicals sampled from diverse environmental aerosols, suggesting that their contribution cannot be neglected.

Environmental context. As a new type of photocatalytic material, nano-titanium dioxide can be applied in the field of energy and environmental protection. This research uses ammonium bifluoride to modify the titanium dioxide and analyses it in combination with interface chemistry theory, and finds that its photocatalytic efficiency has been greatly improved. This provides new ideas for wastewater treatment and pollutant degradation.

Environmental context. Dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) is a malodorous compound formed from decomposing algal matter and can severely compromise the quality of drinking water. The reactivity of DMTS toward cyanide was studied in aqueous solutions at environmentally relevant conditions. It was found that the half-lives of DMTS in the presence of free cyanide varied from several months to several thousand years depending on environmental conditions.