Researchers at Amir Kabir University of Technology have synthesized adsorbents that clean the air of nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxides.
Air pollution poses significant challenges to urban communities, especially for patients with pulmonary disorders, children and the elderly. And Tehran is suffering from one of the longest bouts of pollution it has ever faced.
Elaheh Kowsari, a co-researcher in the project to synthesize photocatalysts as a main solution to environmental pollution, told Mehr News Agency that the photocatalytic process was an advanced oxidation process that used sunlight to activate photocatalysts.
“When subject to pollutant gases, they oxidize these gases immediately and produce less dangerous and poisonous gases. The project helped develop a nanocomposite photocatalyst containing graphene that decomposes poisonous gases with higher efficiencies,” she said.
Kowsari noted that the TiO2/FGO composite increases degradation of air pollutants by nearly three times that of the bare TiO2 thin film.
“A novelty of the project is that it significantly increases photodegradation. The nanocomposites synthetized during the project would be effectively used for the industrial scale production of exhaust gas catalytic converters,” she said.
