Real time purification of contaminated common air is an unsolved
public health problem inside residences and the workplace, and outside from
air pollution by industry and transportation. Currently popular
consumer grade electrostatic air filters accumulate suspended contaminants onto accumulation plates which require subsequent disposal or cleaning of the highly concentrated contaminates, a maintenance requirement that presents a new
consumer health risk. Disclosed is a technology with several embodiments that structurally sequester and eradicate suspended
particulates by electrostatically migrating them to an internal photocatalytic dismantling grid. The grid is a multicellular foundation of
tetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) or Teflon-coated
metal, with an outer layer of photocatalytic nanocrystals embedded in a durable,
porous coating that is energized by
ultraviolet radiation to create powerful surface dismantling agents thereon, including hydroxyl radicals, from natural elements in
ambient air. Pathogens, mycotoxins, spores,
odor molecules, allergens,
smoke particles, and industrial pollutants are structurally dissociated into harmless
protein fragments and natural molecules when they encounter the dismantling grid. The decontamination phenomenon is amplified by using the natural or enhanced positive or negative electrostatic
surface charge on the
suspended particles to migrate them to the dismantling grid for photocatalytic destruction. Contaminants, suspended water molecules, and trace
ozone ions are drawn to the dismantling grid in this manner, also enhancing the supply of
raw material from which the dismantling agents are created. The dismantling grid is self-cleaning and maintenance free, and is designed to use UV energy in a bandwidth that can physically inactivate
pathogen replication defenses until photocatalytic destruction. Depending on the UV energy used, none of the powerful dismantling agents escape the apparatus because of their short half-lives. Once their job is done all return to the natural elements from which they were made, creating no environmental harm.