A team of researchers composed of engineers from Rice University has developed a container that prevents the accumulation of volatile organic compounds (VO) on the surfaces of stored nanomaterials.
What are VOCs?
Volatile organic compounds are carbon-based molecules released by common products such as paints, cleaning fluids, and office and crafting materials. They have high vapor pressure and low water solubility and are emitted from solid or liquid materials in gaseous form.
VOCs usually accumulate in particularly high concentration levels, depositing thin layers of carbon-based substance on various surfaces. As a result, it intervenes with the industrial nanofabrication processes and limits the reliability of microfluidic testing kits. Such an event could also lead to confusion among the scientists who perform fundamental studies on surfaces.
VOCs are present in the air surrounding us daily, and their concentrations are higher indoors than outdoors. This ubiquitous challenge in nanomanufacturing and materials science laboratories requires a portable and inexpensive storage technology.
Aside from their effect on nanomaterials, VOCs are also known for causing short- and long-term adverse effects on human health. According to the American Lung Association, exposure to VOCs can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat, leading to breathing difficulty and nausea. In some extreme conditions, VOCs can harm a person's central nervous system and other body organs. There are also types of VOCs that can cause cancer. Even if they are present outdoors, VOCs can react with other air pollutants and bring similar health effects.
Revolutionary Solution Towards Clean Nanosurfaces
To solve this problem, Ph.D. student Zhen Liu and assistant professor Daniel Preston from Rice University created a new storage container.
The technology works by relying on an ultraclean wall inside the storage container. The research team enhanced the surface of the interior wall with small bumps and divots with sizes ranging from millionths to billionths of a meter. The microscopic and nanoscopic bumps increase the surface area of the interior wall. As a result, the metal atoms are made more available to VOCs in the air inside the sealed container.
Because of the structuring technique, the interior wall of the container serves as a sacrificial material, according to Liu. She further explained that as the VOCs attach to the interior wall's surface, the other objects stored inside the container remain clean.
The idea of using a large precleaned surface to gather pollutants was proposed 50 years ago, but it was largely unnoticed. Liu and her colleagues improved this idea using modern methods of cleaning and texturing nanosurfaces.
Through a series of experiments, they proved that their new storage technology could perform better than other approaches, such as sealed Petri dishes and state-of-the-art vacuum desiccators, in preventing VOCs from coating the surfaces of stored materials.
It was found that this innovation can effectively prevent nanosurfaces from being contaminated with VOCs for at least six weeks. The new storage container can also clean the deposited layers of VOC from previously contaminated surfaces.
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