title: Removal of Indoor Volatile Organic Compounds via Photocatalytic Oxidation: A Short Review and Prospect.
abstract: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are ubiquitous in indoor environments. Inhalation of VOCs can cause irritation, difficulty breathing, and nausea, and damage the central nervous system as well as other organs. Formaldehyde is a particularly important VOC as it is even a carcinogen. Removal of VOCs is thus critical to control indoor air quality (IAQ). Photocatalytic oxidation has demonstrated feasibility to remove toxic VOCs and formaldehyde from indoor environments. The technique is highly-chemical stable, inexpensive, non-toxic, and capable of removing a wide variety of organics under light irradiation. In this paper, we review and summarize the traditional air cleaning methods and current photocatalytic oxidation approaches in both of VOCs and formaldehyde degradation in indoor environments. Influencing factors such as temperature, relative humidity, deactivation and reactivations of the photocatalyst are discussed. Aspects of the application of the photocatalytic technique to improve the IAQ are suggested.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. huangyu@ieecas.cn.|State Key Lab of Loess and Quaternary Geology (SKLLQG), Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. huangyu@ieecas.cn.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. stevenho@hkpsrl.org.|Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA. stevenho@hkpsrl.org.
authors.forename: Steven Sai Hang
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. luyanfeng86@126.com.
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. nrynrj@126.com.
authors.forename: Ruiyuan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. xulif6789@163.com.
authors.forename: Lifeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry &amp; Physics, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. cao@loess.llqg.ac.cn.|State Key Lab of Loess and Quaternary Geology (SKLLQG), Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710061, China. cao@loess.llqg.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China. shun-cheng.lee@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Shuncheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D002384:Catalysis; D005557:Formaldehyde / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008027:Light; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010782:Photolysis; D013696:Temperature; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D014835:Volatilization
chemical_list: D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; C009495:titanium dioxide; D005557:Formaldehyde; D014025:Titanium
keywords: VOCs; formaldehyde; influencing factors; photocatalysis; review