Evaluation of Single-walled Carbon Nanotubes as Novel Adsorbent for Volatile Organic Compounds

The characteristics of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as novel adsorbent for collecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air have been studied. The results indicate that SWCNTs have large surface area and high adsorption and desorption efficiencies for collecting VOCs with low boiling points and strong volatility. The background of SWCNTs is very low through blank experiments owing to its chemical inertia. The effect of water can be neglected by increasing humidity in the sampling process, because of its particular hydrophobicity. SWCNTs have large breakthrough volumes and safe sampling volume. SWCNTs have been successfully applied to collection of VOCs in the air.