Researchers at the University of Limerick in Ireland have developed a new material that has the ability to capture toxic chemicals from the airspecifically traces of benzene.
To do this, this porous material, like a sponge, uses much less energy than the media developed to date, and could revolutionize the search for clean air methodsand would have a significant impact in the battle against the climate change.
Professor Michael Zaworotko, a professor at the Bernal Institute at the University of Limerick, worked on the new material with his colleagues, publishing the results in the journal Nature Materials.
The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) Among which is benzene, they are a class of toxic pollutants that cause serious health and environmental problems. Removing traces of benzene from the air while leaving a minimal energy footprint is one of the challenges that has not been overcome so far.
“A family of porous materials, such as sponge, have been developed to capture benzene vapor from polluted air and produce a stream of clean air for a long time”, explained Professor Zaworotko.
These compounds could easily regenerate under moderate heat, making them candidates for air purification and environmental remediation. “They can perform much better both in sensitivity and service time, compared to traditional materials,” says the scientist, who worked with Dr. Xiang-Jing Kong, from the Limerick Department of Chemical Sciences, and colleagues from several Chinese universities.
The affinity of this material for benzene is so strong that it traps it when it is present at only 1 part in 100,000. It resembles Swiss cheese, because it is full of holes, which are what trap the benzene molecules.
Since the capture process is more physical than chemical, the energy footprint is lower than previous generations of materials. “Disintegrating gas mixtures is difficult. This is especially true of microcomponents in the air, such as carbon dioxide and water. The properties of our new material show that the disintegration is no longer so difficult in the case of benzene,” Zaworotko said.
A new generation of porous materials from the line created at the University of Limerick may enable a new general method of capturing other toxic chemicals from the air. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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