Abstract: In order to study the ozone (O₃) pollution and the characteristics and sources of volatile organic pollutants (VOCs) pollution in central China, this study conducted online observations of VOCs in 2022 and investigated their impact on the formation of O₃ in Nanyang City, Henan Province. In order to guide more effective ozone and VOCs control in central China, this study conducted a one-year online VOCs monitoring in Nanyang City, a typical city in Central China, in 2022. The period from May to September was defined as the ozone pollution period, and the other months as non-ozone pollution period. The results showed that: (1) The average TVOCs concentration in non-ozone pollution months (32.1×10⁻⁹±13.2×10⁻⁹) was 65.5% higher than that in ozone pollution months (19.4×10⁻⁹±5.9×10⁻⁹). However, the concentration of OVOCs in ozone pollution months was 5.3% higher than that in the non-ozone pollution months, indicating that secondary formation may be a significant source of OVOCs in ozone pollution months in Nanyang City. (2) During both observation periods, the OFP of OVOCs accounts for more than 50%, among which formaldehyde (35%), acetaldehyde (10%) and ethylene (9%), m-p-xylene (5%) and toluene (3%) were the most important OFP contributing species. (3) Empirical kinetic model approach (EKMA) and relative incremental reactivity (RIR) calculation revealed that the O₃ formation sensitivity was in transitional regime during the ozone pollution months, and O₃ production was sensitive to both anthropogenic VOCs (particularly alkene and aromatic hydrocarbons) and NO_x. (4) Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis identified six sources during the ozone pollution months: gasoline vehicles (29%), solvent use (23%), industrial process emissions (21%), residential emissions (11%), diesel vehicle emissions (10%) and plant emissions (6%). The research shows that during the ozone pollution months, secondary generation was a significant source of OVOCs, while gasoline vehicle emissions were an important contributor to atmospheric VOCs in Nanyang City.