Prof. Wang ’s research focuses on the chemical and physical processes that govern air quality and atmospheric composition. His works integrates field measurements, laboratory experiments, and numerical modelling to investigate the formation and transformation of pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A major focus is on improving the knowledge of VOC sources, speciation, and oxidation process, and further evaluate the roles of different oxidation mechanism (e.g., various radicals, gas/multi-phase reactions, etc.) in O3 and SOA formation. Meanwhile, his research also explores the complex interactions among clouds, gases, and aerosols, with particular attention to heterogeneous and multiphase chemical processes. His research aims to advance fundamental atmospheric chemistry and contribute to more accurate air quality models and effective pollution mitigation strategies.

Research Themes under ENVR

• Air and Health

Research Areas

• Atmospheric Chemistry
• Air Quality and Health
• Photochemical ozone pollution
• Environmental Monitoring
• Cloud-aerosol-gas interactions

Research Interests

• Reactive nitrogen and organics characterization
• VOCs oxidation and SOA formation
• Atmospheric heterogenous process
• Field observations
• Chamber and laboratory experiments

Research Projects

• Unraveling the role of formation and transformation processes of highly reactive nitrogen compounds on photochemical air pollution
• Investigating the formation and impact of atmospheric di-carbonyls in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area
• Source, formation, and gas-particle partitioning of nitro-phenolic compounds and their environmental impacts in subtropical Hong Kong
• Highly oxygenated products from aromatic VOCs oxidation in the urban environment and their impacts on air quality
• Environment and Conservation Fund Development of a localized diagram approach for characterizing ozone formation regimes and assessing the evolution of ozone pollution in Hong Kong

Publications

Representative Publications

• Chen Y, Xia M, Zheng P, Li Y, Zou Z, Tong S, Li K, Feng X, Hui L, Yuan Q, Li J, Yu JZ, Lee S, Wang T, Wang, Z.*: Complex gas-particle partitioning of nitro-phenolic compounds: field-based insights and determination of apparent activity coefficient. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 8: 266, 2025.
• Chang, D., Li, Q., Wang, Z.,* Dai, J., Fu, X., Guo, J., Zhu, L., Pu, D., Cuevas, C., Fernandez, R. P., Wang, W., Ge, M., Fung, J. C. H., Lau, A. K. H., Granier C., Brasseur, G., Pozzer, A., Saiz-Lopez, A., Song, Y., Wang, T.. Significant chlorine emissions from biomass burning affect the long-term atmospheric chemistry in Asia. National Science Review, nwae285, 2024.
• Hui, L., Feng, X., Yuan Q., Chen, Y., Yang, X., Zheng, P., S.C. Lee, and Wang, Z.*: Abundant oxygenated volatile organic compounds and their contribution to photochemical pollution in subtropical Hong Kong, Environmental Pollution, 335, 122287, 2023.
• Xu Y., Feng, X., Chen, Y., Zheng, P., Hui, L., Chen, Y., Yu, J. Z., and Wang, Z.*: Development of an enhanced method for atmospheric carbonyls and characterizing their roles in photochemistry in subtropical Hong Kong, Science of The Total Environment, 165135, 2023.
• Zheng P, Chen, Y, Wang Z *, Liu Y, Pu W, Yu C, Xia M, Xu Y, Guo J, Guo Y, Tian L, Qiao X, Huang D, Yan C, Nie W, Worsnop D, Lee S, Wang T., Molecular characterization of oxygenated organic molecules and their dominating roles in particle growth in Hong Kong, Environ. Sci. Technol., 57, 7764-7776, 2023.
• Guo, J., Zhang, X.*, Gao, Y., Wang, Z., Zhang, M., Xue, W., Herrmann, H., Brasseur, G. P., Wang, T., and Wang, Z.*. The evolution of ozone pollution in China: what track will it follow? Environ. Sci. Technol., 57:109-117, 2023.
• Nie, W.#, Yan, C.#, Huang, D. D.#, Wang, Z.# (# equal first author), Liu, Y., Qiao, X., Guo, Y., Tian, L., Zheng, P., Xu, Z., Li, Y., Xu, Z., Qi, X., Sun, P., Wang, J., Zheng, F., Li, X., Yin, R., Dallenbach, K. R., Bianchi, F., Petäjä, T., Zhang, Y., Wang, M., Schervish, M., Wang, S., Qiao, L., Wang, Q., Zhou, M., Wang, H., Yu, C., Yao, D., Guo, H., Ye, P., Lee, S., Li, Y. J., Liu, Y., Chi, X., Kerminen, V.-M., Ehn, M., Donahue, N. M., Wang, T., Huang, C., Kulmala, M., Worsnop, D., Jiang, J., and Ding, A.: Secondary organic aerosol formed by condensing anthropogenic vapours over China’s megacities, Nature Geoscience, 2022.
• Chen, Y., Zheng, P., Wang, Z.*, Pu, W., Tan, Y., Yu, C., Xia, C., Wang, W., Guo, J., Huang, D., Yan, C., Nie, W., Ling, Z., Chen, Q., Lee S., Wang, T.. Secondary formation and impacts of gaseous nitro-phenolic compounds in the continental outflow observed at a background site in South China, Environ. Sci. Technol., 56 (11), 6933-6943, doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04596, 2022.
• He, Z., Wang, X., Ling, Z.*, Zhao, J., Guo, H., Shao, M., and Wang, Z.*: Contributions of different anthropogenic volatile organic compound sources to ozone formation at a receptor site in the Pearl River Delta region and its policy implications, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8801-8816, 2019.
• Yu, C., Wang, Z.*, Xia, M., Fu, X., Wang, W., Tham, Y. J., Chen, T., Zheng, P., Li, H., Shan, Y., Wang, X., Xue, L., Zhou, Y., Yue, D., Ou, Y., Gao, J., Lu, K., Brown, S. S., Zhang, Y., and Wang, T.*: Heterogeneous N2O5 reactions on atmospheric aerosols at four Chinese sites: Improving model representation of uptake parameters, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4367-4378, 2020.

Full Publication List