2010 Volume 25 Issue 3 Pages 262-268
The purpose of this study is to investigate the sampling characteristics of molecular contaminants in indoor air undergoing corona discharge by measuring the adsorption under electric field. As electric discharge equipment for ionization, a corona-discharge-type ionizer (pulsed-DC type) was used. Chamber experiments were conducted at a voltage with different polarities applied to the collecting plate. Limonene was selected as a test VOC. Preliminary exposure experiments were carried out to determinate the appropriate exposure time and then the characteristics of surface adsorption was investigated. Furthermore, the concentration distribution of limonene in the chamber was measured to find the optimal condition for the subsequent experiments. The results showed that there exist significant differences in the adsorbed amount of test VOC depending on the polarity of collecting plate, suggesting that even nonpolar organic compounds behave like ions under the influence of corona discharge.
