Advanced removal of C. famata in bioaerosols by simultaneous adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation of Cu-doped TiO₂/PU under visible irradiation

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Polyurethane (PU), a honeycomb structure material, was used as a substrate onto which TiO<SUB>2</SUB> and Cu-TiO<SUB>2</SUB> were deposited in order to integrate the adsorption property to the photocatalysts. TiO<SUB>2</SUB> deposited on PU (TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU) and Cu-doped TiO<SUB>2</SUB> deposited on PU (Cu-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU) were synthesized and applied to the removal of Candida famata (C. famata), a frequently encountered airborne yeast. The removal capacities of C. famata by PU, TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU and Cu-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU were 1.5x10<SUP>5</SUP>, 3.2x10<SUP>5</SUP> and 6.9x10<SUP>5</SUP> (CFU/cm<SUP>3</SUP>) under dark condition and 1.5x10<SUP>5</SUP>, 3.3x10<SUP>5</SUP> and 1.8x10<SUP>6</SUP> (CFU/cm<SUP>3</SUP>) under visible light irradiation, respectively. PU and TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU seemed to exhibit only an adsorption ability for removing C. famata in aerosols under both dark and visible light. The C. famata removal capacity of Cu-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU under visible light was increased 2.6-fold compared to that under dark condition. This significant increase was attributed to the Cu dopant, which enhanced the electron-hole separation efficiency and capacity of TiO<SUB>2</SUB>, resulting in the high photocatalytic activity of Cu-TiO<SUB>2</SUB>/PU under visible light.