Highly efficient indoor air purification using adsorption-enhanced-photocatalysis-based microporous TiO2 at short residence time

A short residence time is a key design parameter for the removal of organic pollutants in catalyst-based indoor air purification systems. In this study, we synthesized a series of TiO2 with different micropore volumes and studied their removal efficiency of indoor carbonyl pollutants at a short residence time. Our results indicated that the superior adsorption capability of TiO2 with micropores improved its performance in the photocatalytic degradation of cyclohexanone, while the photocatalytic removal of the pollutant successfully kept porous TiO2 from becoming saturated. When treated with 1mgm(-3) cyclohexanone at a relatively humidity of 18%, the adsorption amount on microporous TiO2 was 5.4-7.9 times higher than that on P25. Removal efficiency via photocatalysis followed the same order as the adsorption amount: TiO2-5 > TiO2-20 > TiO2-60 > TiO2-180>P25. The advantage of microporous TiO2 over P25 became more pronounced when the residence time declined from 0.072 to 0.036s. Moreover, as the concentration of cyclohexanone deceased from 1000ppb to 500ppb, removal efficiency by microporous TiO2 increased more rapidly than P25.