Melamine sponge-based copper-organic framework (Cu-CPP) as a multi-functional filter for air purifiers.

Unlabelled: COVID-19 has drawn great attention on the necessity for establishing pathogen-free indoor air. This paper offers an insight into the potential application of a multi-purpose filter to remove fine particulates and disinfect pathogens using melamine sponge with a copper-organic framework. In-situ growth dip coating method was applied to coat Cu-based coordination polymer particle (Cu-CPP) on melamine sponge (MS). The integration of Cu-CPPs with high crystallinity and highly active surface area (1,318.1 m/g) enabled Cu-CPP/MS to have an excellent capture rate (99.66%) and an instant disinfection rate of 99.54% for . Electrostatic attraction seemed to play a crucial role in capturing negative-charged pathogens effectively by positive charges on Cu-CPP arising from unbalanced copper ions in Cu-CPP. Disinfection of pathogens was mainly attributed to catalytically active Cu sites. Organic ligand played an important role in bridging and maintaining Cu ions within the framework. This study highlights the design of a new capture-and-disinfection (CDS) air filter system for pathogens using Cu-CPP/MS. It can be applied as a substitute for conventional high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters.

Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available for this article at 10.1007/s11814-021-1000-4 and is accessible for authorized users.