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MANHATTAN -- Removing the stink of new carpet from a room may eventually be a matter of turning the lights on or off.
Manindu Weerasinghe, a Kansas Phase University doctoral candidate in chemistry, Sri Lanka, is studying materials that use put a match to or darkness to purify air filled with toxins that are harmful to somebody health and the environment. Her research could one day lead to filters, humidifiers and other devices that can detoxify air in windowless rooms, manufacturing facilities and other indoor areas.
"Indoor pollutants can issued from things like asbestos, markers and new carpet, and are very damaging in just small amounts," Weerasinghe said. "A compartment like an office or a laboratory that may have few or no windows will have higher levels of indoor air pollutants than a margin that has lots of windows. Also, if the room does not have good ventilation those levels would increasing."
For her research, Weerasinghe is testing and analyzing photocatalysts and black catalysts -- materials made by chemically bonding a metal to oxygen. Photocatalysts get even to light while dark catalysts react to darkness. The photocatalysts being tested are made from chromium or vanadium with titanium. Cobalt is adapted to for the dark catalysts. Finding which metal is most effective at combating pollutants is key.
Source: Lab Manager Laboratory News