Surface enrichment promotes the decomposition of benzene from air

The low generation rate and short lifetime of reactive oxidation radicals such as OH strictly limit the photocatalytic degradation of benzene in air. Here, we adopt copper as a dopant to adjust the absorption of moisture (H2O) to facilitate OH radical production and provide more sites for enriching benzene near the surface of the TiO2 photocatalyst. The localized aggregation of benzene can kinetically promote degradation. Besides, this method can also effectively save the OH radicals from auto-oxidation by shortening the travel distance to react with benzene molecules, which further promotes target collision for realizing efficient detoxication.

Automated summary

In this study, copper was used as a dopant to adjust moisture absorption and facilitate the production of OH radicals on the surface of TiO2 photocatalyst. The localized aggregation of benzene promoted its degradation kinetically, and shortening the travel distance for OH radicals to react with benzene molecules effectively saved the radicals and further enhanced detoxification efficiency.