Professor Yu is Chair Professor in the Division of Environment and Sustainability and Head & Chair Professor in the Department of Chemistry. A leader in atmospheric and aerosol analytical chemistry, she has pioneered analytical methods for PM2.5 speciation, brown carbon quantification, and organic tracer measurements, and led ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometric studies of atmospheric organics. Her group’s work underpins monitoring networks and field campaigns, including routine analyses for Hong Kong’s PM2.5 speciation network since 2011. With 280+ peer reviewed papers (h-index 84), Yu serves as Editor-in-Chief of Atmospheric Environment and has held panel roles with Hong Kong Research Grant Council (RGC) and European Research Council. Honors include Asian Aerosol Research Assembly (AARA) Fellow (2022) and the 2025 Hong Kong RGC Senior Research Fellow. Her recent research highlights nitrogen’s dominance in global organic aerosol absorption and advances in aerosol nitrogen measurements.

Research Themes under ENVR

• Air and Health

Research Areas

• Atmospheric chemistry
• Analytical chemistry
• Urban environment and health impact

Research Interests

• Development of analytical methods for atmospheric applications
• Detections and quantifications of individual chemical components in aerosols
• Sources and sinks of important aerosol constituents
• Evaluation of health impact by ambient aerosols
• Kinetic modeling of multi-phase atmospheric reactions

Research Projects

• Chemical weather observations of carbon chemistry in Greater Bay Area
• Analytical chemistry of multi-level chemical speciation of C, N, and S in atmospheric aerosol samples
• Observation and modeling of organic nitrogen abundance and molecular composition in aerosol and rainwater in China
• Online monitoring of oxidative potential of atmospheric particulate matter using dithiothreitol (DTT) assay
• Dry deposition and source apportionment of atmospheric particulate organic nitrogen (ON): towards both water-soluble and water-insoluble ON
• Environment and Conservation Fund: Non-targeted analysis and suspect screening analysis of ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using gas chromatography electron ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-EI-ToF-MS)
• Environment and Conservation Fund: Year-round observation of particulate organic and inorganic nitrates in urban Hong Kong: insights in NOx transformation pathway and the influence factors
• Fine particulate matter composition, oxidative potential, and population health in Hong Kong

Publications

Representative Publications

• Li, Y. M., Fu, T. M.*, Yu, J. Z.*, Zhang, A. X,, Yu, X., Ye, J. H., Zhu, L., Shen, H.Z., Wang, C., Yang, X., Tao, S., Chen, Q., Li, Y., Che, H. Z., Heald, C. L. Nitrogen dominates global atmospheric organic aerosol absorption. Science, 2025, 387, 989-995. DOI: 10.1126/science.adr4473.
• Cheng, Y. H., Chen, H. Z., Yu, J. Z.*, Linking Transition Metal Concentration and Oxidative Potential in PM2.5 by Ascorbic Acid Assay via Quasi-Michaelis–Menten Mechanism, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2025, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c09374
• Liang, S. M., Wang, Y. C., Chen, H.Z., Chan, S., Yu, J. Z.*, Accurate Quantification of Multifunctional C2−3 Organosulfates in Atmospheric Aerosols Using Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry: Overcoming Matrix Effects and Underestimation, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2025, 59, 12812–12821.
• Liao, K.Z., Cheng, Y. Y., Yea, S. S., Chen, L.-W. A., Seinfeld J. H., Yu, J. Z.*, New analytical paradigm to determine concentration of brown carbon and its sample-by-sample mass absorption efficiency, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2024, 58, 17386-17395.
• Yu, X., Li, Q. F., Liao, K. Z., Li, Y. M., Wang, X. M., Zhou, Y., Liang, Y. M., Yu, J. Z.*, New measurements reveal a large contribution of nitrogenous molecules to ambient organic aerosol, npj Climate Atmos. Sci., 2024, 7, 72.
• Chow, W.S., Liao, K., Huang, X. H. H., Leung, K. F., Lau, A. K. H., and Yu, J. Z.*, Measurement Report: Ten-year trend of PM2.5 major components and source tracers from 2008 to 2017 in an urban site of Hong Kong, China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2022, 22, 11557–11577.
• Wang, Y.C., Tong, R.B.*, Yu, J. Z.*, Chemical Synthesis of Multifunctional Air Pollutants: Terpene-Derived Nitrooxy Organosulfates, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2021, 55, 8573-8582.
• Yu, X., Li, Q. F., Ge, Y., Li, Y.M., Liao, K. Z., Huang, X. H. H., Li, J.J., Yu, J. Z.*, Simultaneous determination of aerosol inorganic and organic nitrogen by thermal evolution and chemiluminescent detection, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2021, 55, 11579-11589.
• Xue, J. Yu, X., Yuan, Z. B., Griffith, S. M., Lau, A. K. H., Seinfeld, J. H.*, Yu, J. Z.*, Efficient control of atmospheric sulfate production based on three formation regimes, Nature Geosci., 2019, 12, 977-982.
• P. Lin, A. G. Rincon, M. Kalberer*, J. Z. Yu*, Elemental composition of HULIS in the Pearl River Delta Region, China: Results inferred from positive and negative electrospray high resolution mass spectrometric data, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2012, 46, 7454-7462.

Full Publication List