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TiO2/SiO2 Films for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from Indoor Air

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Handbook of Ecomaterials

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Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are the major pollutants in indoor air, which significantly impact indoor air quality and thus influence human health. A long-term exposure to VOCs will be detrimental to human health causing sick building syndrome (SBS). Photocatalytic decomposition of VOCs using TiO2 as a photocatalyst is a key technology for air cleaning devices because it can totally convert most VOC pollutants at low concentrations to harmless inorganic products at ambient temperature. UVA light required in the air cleaning device is nowadays a very cheap light source. A common approach to enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is also to increase its surface area (100–200 m2/g to 400–1000 m2/g). This can be achieved by immobilization of TiO2 on the porous supports such as porous silica and the preparation of such a catalyst in the form of a thin layer using an appropriate carrier. Porous silica is superior support for accommodating photocatalyst nanoparticles because it is chemically inert, possesses high surface area, is transparent to UV radiation, has great physical stability, and has hydrophobic character.

An overview of the design and development of TiO2/SiO2 composite photocatalyst in the form of films with superior activity for removal of VOCs from the polluted air is presented.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Chemistry, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Nataša Novak Tušar & Andraž Šuligoj

  2. University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia

    Nataša Novak Tušar & Urška Lavrenčič Štangar

  3. Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Andraž Šuligoj & Urška Lavrenčič Štangar

Authors
  1. Nataša Novak Tušar
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  2. Andraž Šuligoj
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  3. Urška Lavrenčič Štangar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Urška Lavrenčič Štangar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ingeniería Civil Facultad de Ingeniería Civil, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Leticia Myriam Torres Martínez

  2. Facultad de Ciencias Físico-Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico

    Oxana Vasilievna Kharissova

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León UANL, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, Mexico

    Boris Ildusovich Kharisov

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Tušar, N.N., Šuligoj, A., Štangar, U.L. (2019). TiO2/SiO2 Films for Removal of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from Indoor Air. In: Martínez, L., Kharissova, O., Kharisov, B. (eds) Handbook of Ecomaterials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68255-6_76

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