The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and viruses attract interests from modern people owing to its harmfulness. Various air purification and viruses inactivation technologies have been investigated to treat air pollution. Among them, ultraviolet (UV) photocatalytic oxidation has been commonly used for environmental remediation. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely used as a photocatalyst for air purification owing to chemical stability, abundance, and eco-friendly. However, the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is negligible in UVC region. In this study, the effect of surface modification of TiO2 with copper (Cu) was investigated by characterization of catalysts and degradation of VOCs and viruses under UVC and UVA light. We synthesized the hybrid Cu2O/TiO2 nanocomposite using a simple impregnation method. The role of Cu2O as a co-catalyst was trapping electrons that excited by light irradiation, resulting facilitating charge separation. In particular, the Cu2O/TiO2 photocatalyst exhibited superior photocurrent density, electron donor density and electrical conductivity compared to bare TiO2 and CuO/TiO2. Furthermore, the interfacial charge transfer from balance band of TiO2 to surface Cu oxide enhanced the absorption from not only visible light region but also UVA, UVB, and UVC region. The synthesized Cu2O/TiO2 that absorb a wide range of wavelengths has the advantage that air purification and virus inactivation can perform at the same wavelength. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of Cu2O/TiO2 induced a highly synergic enhancement of gaseous formaldehyde (HCHO) oxidation and virus inactivation. In a practical perspective, the stability of Cu2O/TiO2 nanocomposite which coated on ceramic filter to remove VOCs continuously was stable over 12h. This study demonstrated a new concept of a photocatalyst that can absorb wide range of UV light for removing VOCs and inactivating virus in same wavelength.

UVC and UVA-induced hybrid Cu2O/TiO2 nanocomposite for air purification and antiviral effects

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ACS Fall 2022

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