Synthesis of Nanoscale Adsorbents and Catalysts via Aerosol Route and Air Pollution Control Applications

Abstract

The aerosol processing of materials has attracted increasing attention because of its rapid synthesis and simplicity for scaling up as compared to the traditional liquid or solid methods. In this article, aerosol processing of nanoscale adsorbents and catalysts for air pollution control applications is reviewed. Special focuses are on the synthesis and application of nano-materials developed in our research group, with mesoporous spherical-silica particles (MSPs) and nitrogen-doped TiO₂ (N-TiO₂) photocatalysts as examples. The MSPs possess high surface area, pore volume and uniform pore size distribution in the nano-scale, thus they are suitable to serve as adsorbents or catalysts supports. And the N-TiO₂ particles are effective photocatalysts under visible light irradiation. The synthesis parameters for producing MSPs via aerosol-assisted evaporation induced self assembly (EISA) method and for producing N-TiO₂ via atmospheric pressure plasma enhanced nanoparticle synthesis (APPENS) process were investigated. The characteristics of MSPs and N-TiO₂ for either adsorbing or destructing the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were discussed. Their effectiveness was also compared with adsorbents or photocatalysts made by non-aerosol processes.