STTR Phase I: The Coupling of COVID-19 Respiratory Droplet Adsorption and Photocatalysis through Metal Organic Frameworks

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is the prevention of the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) through airborne droplet isolation and destruction. Living in a post-pandemic world means that the virus must be mitigated in our surroundings. The proposed technology offers a method for viral removal and inactivation, and it is expected to offer protection against emergent strains and spread of other future viruses. The proposed technology is already being used to improve the energy efficiency of heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which have been shown to be a major concentrators of the virus. The chemistry as a coating can be rapidly applied to any negative air pressure devices, such as masks (respirators and surgical), and air purifiers, making cluster indoor locations safer for inhabitants and workers. The proposed technology can inactivate viruses using visible light, offering cost and safety advantages over ultraviolet (UV) inactivation, as UV is not safe for skin exposure. This STTR project will develop a metal-organic framework (MOF)-based respiratory droplet adsorption coating, which, when activated, will photocatalytically destroy COVID-19 and other airborne contaminants. The project proposes to couple the water adsorptive capacity of nanostructured titanium metal organic frameworks with their photocatalytic oxidation capability to destroy COVID-19 in situ to make indoor spaces safer. The project will advance a coordination polymer-based chemistry which can render COVID-19 inactive through microdroplet isolation and photocatalytic decontamination. Based on their highly tunable priorities and catalytic properties, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) constitute an effective solution to capture COVID-19 micro-droplets and treat them for their viral content. Preliminary test results have showed that that MOFs can photocatalytically render COVID-19 inactive but there are still stability risks to mitigate. The high valence titanium-based MOFs can address the chemical stability challenges of MOFs, which can eliminate the technical hurdles associated with long term stability, cyclic harvesting of micro-air droplets at low relative humidity and their integration into existing heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.