[Research] AMSE Research team led by Prof. Sang-Woo Kim develops air-transmitted pathogen disinfection system applying triboelectri
- 신소재공학부
- Hit1393
- 2022-01-26
AMSE Research team led by Prof. Sang-Woo Kim develops air-transmitted pathogen disinfection system applying triboelectricity
- Research team developed self-powered microbial disinfection using nanowire-enhanced localized electric field
- Rapid disinfection of 0.025 seconds without needing extra electricity became possible
- The system is expected to be applied to future ventilation system and hazmat suits
[Image 1] Prof. Sang-woo Kim, Ph.D. Candidate Young Jun Kim
Professor Sang-woo Kim’s research team from department of Advanced Materials Science & Engineering (AMSE) developed self-powered air-transmitted pathogen disinfection system based on triboelectric nanogenerator and nanowire. The research team achieved rapid inactivation of indoor/outdoor pathogens using triboelectricity generated by ambient energy such as mechanical vibration.
Air-transmitted pathogens like SARS, MERS, and swine flu have caused serious damages on our community and economy as a whole. COVID-19, which is currently ongoing global pandemics, is also bringing about numerous infections and deaths.
Given the time required to develop the vaccine, society should take proactive action to deter the spread of the epidemic. However, traditional high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filtration not only has drawbacks such as pressure drop and low throughput, but also cannot inactivate pathogens as it simply captures particles physically. Precipitator as well has risks as it generates ozone and requires kV-level high voltages.
The research team found clue in the nanowire and triboelectricity. By forming an electric field out of triboelectricity and maximizing it through nanowires, research team demonstrated that airborne pathogens can easily be inactivated through electroporation method.
The research team exposed E. coli (bacteria), B. subtilis (bacteria), and MS2 (virus) to the system and demonstrated that airborne pathogens, ranging from nanometer-level viruses to micrometer-level bacteria, can be easily removed through triboelectricity. Furthermore, the research team confirmed superior performance of the disinfection system of more than 99.99% inactivation of MS2 virus which has nanometer-level size at a fast air flow rate of 2 m/s.
The system inactivates pathogens in mere 0.025 s without needing extra electricity. Also, pressure drop (24 Pa) of more than 50 times lower than widely-used H13 air filter is one of its promising feature.
“Self-powered pathogen inactivation technology using static electricity overcomes the limitation of physical capture of the conventional filter.” Prof. Sang-woo Kim stated, adding “It can be applied in indoor and outdoor air ventilation technology that maximizes the energy efficiency of the circulation system due to low pressure drop albeit high pathogen disinfection efficiency of the system. We also expect this to be applied to masks and hazardous materials suits through follow-up research.”
This work was supported by Nano Material Technology Development Program (2020M3H4A1A03084600) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by Ministry of Science and ICT and the GRRC program of Gyeonggi province (GRRC Sungkyunkwan 2017-B05). Z.-Y.H. acknowledges the support from the Korea Research Fellowship Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2019H1D3A1A01102903). Z.-Y.H. also thanks the technical support from Dr. Rong Cheng from Renmin University of China and Dr. Jinling Xue from Helmholtz Zentrum München.
This paper was published online in ‘Nature communications’ on June 17th.
※ Paper: Triboelectrification induced self-powered microbial disinfection using nanowire- enhanced localized electric field
※ Author contributions: Prof. Sang-Woo Kim (corresponding author, AMSE, SKKU), Ph.D. Candidate Young-Jun Kim (First author, Ph.D., SKKU), Dr. Zheng-Yang Huo (First author, research professor, SKKU), Researcher In-Yong Suh (Master’s program at SKKU), Researcher Dong-Min Lee (Ph.D. program at SKKU), Dr. Jeong Hwan Lee (Postdoctoral researcher at SKKU), Dr. Ye Du (Sichuan University), Researcher Si Wang (UESTC), Dr. Hong-Joon Yoon (Postdoctoral researcher at SKKU)
https://www.skku.edu/skku/campus/skk_comm/news.do?mode=view&articleNo=90425&article.offset=20&articleLimit=10