Liquid crystal display screens as a source for indoor volatile organic compounds

Liu, Qifan; Abbatt, Jonathan P. D.

doi:10.1073/pnas.2105067118

Cited by 40 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…No NCA signals were detected during this time. In addition, the pseudo-first-order rate constants of LCD-emitted unsaturated VOCs were significantly lower than the air change rate (<0.1 h –1 vs 3.2 h –1 ) . Therefore, it is unlikely that the VOC emissions from LCD screens of the devices contributed to NCA emissions in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Ozone Initiates Human-Derived Emission of Nanocluster Aerosols

Shen

Licina

Weschler

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Nanocluster aerosols (NCA, particles <3nm) are important players in driving climate feedbacks and processes that impact human health. This study reports, for the first time, NCA formation when gas-phase ozone reacts with human surfaces. In an occupied climatecontrolled chamber, we detected NCA only when ozone was present. NCA emissions were dependent on clothing coverage, occupant age, air temperature and humidity. Ozoneinitiated chemistry with human skin lipids (particularly their primary surface reaction products) is the key mechanism driving NCA emissions, as evidenced by positive correlations with squalene in human skin wipe samples and known gaseous products from ozonolysis of skin lipids. Oxidation by OH radicals, autoxidation reactions, and humanemitted NH 3 may also play a role in NCA formation. Such chemical processes are anticipated to generate aerosols of the smallest size (1.18-1.55 nm), whereas larger clusters result from subsequent growth of the smaller aerosols. This study shows that whenever we encounter ozone indoors, where we spend most of our lives, nanocluster aerosols will be produced in the air around us. SynopsisChamber studies reveal nanocluster aerosol emissions from ozone-human chemistry occurring in indoor air and the potential formation mechanisms.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

“…The liquid crystal display (LCD) screens of smartphones and tablets can also emit unsaturated VOCs, albeit at a considerably lower rate relative to humans. 46 Four tablets were continuously present inside the chamber, including during ozone-rich unoccupied periods. No NCA signals were detected during this time.…”

Section: ■ Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ozone Initiates Human-Derived Emission of Nanocluster Aerosols

Shen

Licina

Weschler

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…The indoor source/sink database is established by collecting indoor source and sink strength data reported in the literature [32,34,[63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76]. As shown in Figure 2, the source/sink types collected in the database can be classified into the following five categories: human, furniture, building material, appliance, and other, which cover the commonly encountered indoor air pollutant sources and sinks.…”

Section: Air Pollutant Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of Indoor Air Quality Prediction into Healthy Building Design

et al. 2022

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Healthy building design is an emerging field of architecture and building engineering. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is an inevitable factor that should be considered in healthy building design due to its demonstrated links with human health and well-being. This paper proposes to integrate IAQ prediction into healthy building design by developing a simulation toolbox, termed i-IAQ, using MATLAB App Designer. Within the i-IAQ, users can input information of building layout and wall-openings and select air pollutant sources from the database. As an output, the toolbox simulates indoor levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), total volatile organic compounds (TVOC), inhalable particles (PM10), fine particles (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) during the occupied periods. Based on the simulation results, the toolbox also offers diagnosis and recommendations to improve the design. The accuracy of the toolbox was validated by a case study in an apartment where physical measurements of air pollutants took place. The results suggest that designers can integrate the i-IAQ toolbox in building design, so that the potential IAQ issues can be resolved at the early design stage at a low cost. The paper outcomes have the potential to pave a way towards more holistic healthy building design, and novel and cost-effective IAQ management.

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“…[ 14,15 ] The current electro‐optical technologies based on liquid crystals face challenges because of their weak response with small Kerr coefficient, environmental impact caused by the production of synthetic active materials, large energy consumption, and complicated device architectures. [ 16–23 ] For example, organic molecules are most‐commonly used as active materials in such electro‐optical liquid crystal devices but the relatively high toxicity and poor environmental stability cause notable concerns. [ 20–23 ] In addition, current liquid crystal devices rely on the use of extremely‐uniform microspheres as spacers and alignment layers, which are produced by repetitive rubbing of polyimide‐coated glass substrates, [ 19 ] making the device production fairly complicated and resource consuming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[ 16–23 ] For example, organic molecules are most‐commonly used as active materials in such electro‐optical liquid crystal devices but the relatively high toxicity and poor environmental stability cause notable concerns. [ 20–23 ] In addition, current liquid crystal devices rely on the use of extremely‐uniform microspheres as spacers and alignment layers, which are produced by repetitive rubbing of polyimide‐coated glass substrates, [ 19 ] making the device production fairly complicated and resource consuming. Also, the existing electro‐optical devices continuously consume energy to maintain working or stand‐by states, regardless of whether the design is based on the vertically aligned or twisted nematic mode.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

2D Functional Minerals as Sustainable Materials for Magneto‐Optics

et al. 2022

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chemical properties, 2D materials have long been the forefront of fundamental research and applications in optics and many other fields. [1][2][3][4] For instance, many efforts have been devoted to explore physical paradigms under 2D limit and enable novel optical devices, such as exciton-resonance-enabled lens, [5,6] wideband tunable mode lockers, [7,8] as well as photodetectors and harmonic generators in terahertz regime. [2,9] Noteworthy, together with recently reported 2D ferromagnets, [10][11][12] 2D materials based magneto-optics have attracted great attentions nowadays. Categorized by the interaction between material and incident light under magnetic field, four main magnetooptical effects are investigated commonly, namely the Zeeman effect, Faraday effect, magneto-optical Kerr effect, and Cotton-Mouton effect, in which 2D materials are recognized as promising matters. [13] Among these four magneto-optical effects, the Cotton-Mouton effect is of great benefits for transmitted light modulation in a see-through manner, with the potential applications ranging from sub-micron-scale dynamic light modulators to meter-scale displayable windows in future society. [14,15] The current electro-optical technologies based on liquid crystals face Liquid crystal devices using organic molecules are nowadays widely used to modulate transmitted light, but this technology still suffers from relatively weak response, high cost, toxicity and environmental concerns, and cannot fully meet the demand of future sustainable society. Here, an alternative approach to color-tunable optical devices, which is based on sustainable inorganic liquid crystals derived from 2D mineral materials abundant in nature, is described. The prototypical 2D mineral of vermiculite is massively produced by a green method, possessing size-to-thickness aspect ratios of >10 3 , inplane magnetization of >10 emu g −1 , and an optical bandgap of >3 eV. These characteristics endow 2D vermiculite with sensitive magneto-birefringence response, been several orders of magnitude larger than organic counterparts, as well as capability of broad-spectrum modulation. The finding consequently permits the fabrication of various magnetochromic or mechanochromic devices with low or even zero-energy consumption during operation. This work creates opportunities for the application of sustainable materials in advanced optics.

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Liquid crystal display screens as a source for indoor volatile organic compounds

Cited by 40 publications

References 57 publications

Ozone Initiates Human-Derived Emission of Nanocluster Aerosols

Ozone Initiates Human-Derived Emission of Nanocluster Aerosols

Integration of Indoor Air Quality Prediction into Healthy Building Design

2D Functional Minerals as Sustainable Materials for Magneto‐Optics

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