A Novel Sustainable Semiconductor/Metal-organic Framework Coated Electret Filter for Simultaneous Removal of PM2.5 and VOCs

Yu Zhang; Zan Zhu; Wei-Ning Wang; Sheng-Chieh Chen

doi:10.4209/aaqr.220445

A Novel Sustainable Semiconductor/Metal-organic Framework Coated Electret Filter for Simultaneous Removal of PM2.5 and VOCs

Special issue in honor of Prof. David Y.H. Pui for his “50 Years of Contribution in Aerosol Science and Technology”

Yu Zhang, Zan Zhu, Wei-Ning Wang, Sheng-Chieh Chen This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Department of Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23284, USA

Received: December 8, 2022
Revised: February 3, 2023
Accepted: February 23, 2023

Copyright The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220445

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Cite this article:

Zhang, Y., Zhu, Z., Wang, W.N., Chen, S.C. (2023). A Novel Sustainable Semiconductor/Metal-organic Framework Coated Electret Filter for Simultaneous Removal of PM_2.5 and VOCs. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.220445

HIGHLIGHTS

A novel photocatalyst-MOF electret media, called PE-MOFilter, was fabricated.
The PE-MOFilter remains a surface area and fiber charge as MOF and electret.
The PE-MOFilter effectively removes PM_2.5 and VOCs with low-pressure drop.
The PE-MOFilter can be regenerated with UV light for a sustainable VOC removal.

ABSTRACT

A MIL-125-NH₂ metal-organic framework (MOF) coated electret filter, named E-MOFilter, was previously developed to simultaneously remove PM_2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 mm in aerodynamic diameter) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs, e.g., toluene). This E-MOFilter captures toluene primarily through physical adsorption, however, degradation of the adsorbed VOCs is desired for increasing the service life of the filter. In this study, photocatalytic nanosheets Bi₂WO₆/BiOCl (p-BWO) were synthesized, grafted on the MIL-125-NH₂ to be [email protected], and then coated to the electret filter to form a new filter named PE-MOFilter. The physical characterizations, including size, morphology, crystal structure, optical properties, and surface area for the semiconductor p-BWO nanosheets, [email protected] and PE-MOFilter were first examined to find out the optimal p-BWO to MIL ratio and coating wt% of [email protected] particles on the electret filter. Results demonstrated that the p-BWO nanosheets were successfully coated on the surface of MIL and the [email protected] retained the surface area and micropore volume of the MIL-125-NH₂. The capability of the PE-MOFilter on adsorption and degradation of VOCs and the removal efficiency of PM_2.5 was examined. The results showed that this novel PE-MOFilter not only captured but also effectively photodegraded VOC pollutants via the synergistic action of adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO). The photodegradation efficiency was found to be as high as 68.7% and it depended on the ratio of p-BWO to MIL. The PM_2.5removal efficiency also demonstrated that the coating of [email protected] particles had a negligible influence on the degradation of fiber charge. This research sheds light on the development of [email protected] coated electret media to simultaneously remove particulate and gaseous pollutants to improve indoor air quality with low energy consumption.