Abstract:The hygroscopic growth of aerosols has significant effects on their environmental behaviors and health effects. However, the knowledge on the microscopic kinetic mechanism for hygroscopic growth of aerosols containing surface active components has been largely lacking. In this study, the hygroscopic growth of succinic acid aerosol particle was simulated using the molecular dynamics method. The key point is to investigate the combined effects of temperature and water content on the structure and interface characteristics of particles at the equilibrium state. Results show that temperature and water content can affect the solvation number of succinic acid, resulting in the occurrence of the layered structure with water wrapping around acid particle, the mixed structure and the layered structure with acid wrapping around water droplet. The distribution of succinic acid on the surface region increases first and then decreases, and it increases with the increasing water content. Additionally, when the temperature is greater than 260 K, the hydrophilic and hydrophobic group of succinic acid molecules on the particle surface are toward the particle inside and the gas phase, respectively.