Session: Electrochemistry & Electrocatalysis:

The current Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the need and utility of a rapid sterilization technique for personal protective equipment and other items that are fomites for the transmission of viruses and other pathogens. Ozone as a treatment medium is well established in the water remediation industry but has only recently been explored for use in open air sterilization systems. These current techniques employ ozone at high concentrations, 30+ ppm, for cycles lasting up to several hours. This research shows that effective results can be achieved in treatment times as low as 15 minutes, and at concentrations below 10ppm using model pathogens. Additionally, a novel catalyst material was developed to quickly degrade latent ozone from treatment to safe levels at 0.1ppm. This work will report results for pathogen kill rates and catalytic ozone degradation achieved using the novel catalyst material.

Alexandria Lanning

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