New material can 'capture toxic pollutants from air'

A new material has the ability to capture toxic chemicals from the air.

The researchers said that the material can capture trace amounts of benzene from the air and use less energy than existing materials to do so.

The researchers believe that the sponge-like porous material could have a significant impact on the battle against climate change.

The new material was developed by Professor Michael Zaworotko, who is the Chair of Crystal Engineering and Science Foundation of Ireland.

Volatile organic compounds are a class of toxic pollutants that cause severe environmental and health issues. The challenges of removing benzene from air at trace concentrations and doing it with a low energy footprint have not been solved until now.

Professor Zaworotko explained that a family of porous materials have been developed to capture benzene vapor from polluted air and produce a clean air stream for a long time.

The materials could be regenerated easily under mild heating.

Our materials can do better than traditional materials in terms of sensitivity and working time.

Professor Zaworotko and Dr. Xiang-Jing Kong from the Department of Chemical Sciences at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, along with colleagues from leading universities in China, developed a new porous material that can capture the toxic chemical benzene even when it is just 1 part in 100,000

The researchers say that the material resembles Swiss cheese because it is full of holes.

The energy footprint of capture and release is lower because the process is based on physical rather than chemical bonding.

It is difficult to break up gas mixtures. The minor components that comprise air include carbon dioxide and water. Professor Zaworotko explained that the properties of the new material show that breaking up is no longer difficult.

Professor Zaworotko's lab has resulted in leading materials for carbon capture and water harvesting. The water harvesting material is being used in dehumidification systems to capture and release water from the atmosphere.

Based on smart design, our materials do well in addressing challenges of both technical and social relevance, such as trace benzene removal from air. This highlights the charm of porous materials and is hard for conventional materials.

The results suggest that a new generation of porous materials invented at the University of Louisville can be used to capture toxic chemicals from the air.

Aromatic isomers are difficult to separate in their mixture with traditional methods, which are always energy intensive.

This research opened up possibilities to design porous materials for efficient separation of these chemicals with low energy input as well as removal of other trace pollutants from air.

More information: Tao He et al, Trace removal of benzene vapour using double-walled metal–dipyrazolate frameworks, Nature Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01237-x Journal information: Nature Materials Citation: New material can 'capture toxic pollutants from air' (2022, May 18) retrieved 18 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-material-capture-toxic-pollutants-air.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.