The I-BREATHE vision is to achieve health equity through air quality.
I-BREATHE will help revolutionize the built environment to actively remove harmful gasses in outdoor and indoor environments, thereby contributing to the wellbeing of occupants, the environment and the community while enhancing the durability of the built environment. Buildings and civil infrastructure are in direct contact with the atmosphere and therefore can play a revolutionary supporting role to trees in removing particulate matter and gaseous compounds. As people spend a significant amount of their time indoors, buildings and civil infrastructure also have the potential to serve as barriers that block air pollutants from reaching their users.
The I-BREATHE mission is to generate new tools and process to Detect, Collect, and Convert harmful contaminants in the air we breathe in our indoor environment.
The Center will develop regenerative absorptive materials to collect gaseous emissions and convert them into valuable products. Successful collection and conversion of gasses requires advancing the science of engineering carbon dots, mineralization and photocatalytic materials, as well as advancing the knowledge of metal–organic frameworks and electrochemical conversion.
To bridge the gap between the collection and conversion of gasses, the adsorbing surfaces need to be regenerated by activation or desorption such that noxious gasses, particulates, and CO2 are removed and can be used in the conversion process. Here, we explore the role of carbon dots and photoactive materials for the active remediation process, while taking advantage of solar thermal heating and solar photovoltaics combined with enhanced heat and mass transfer within/near the adsorbents to distribute the desorbed gasses to desired endpoints. We also explore how shape and topology optimization can help increase the exposure of the built environment to the surrounding air, thereby increasing the efficiency of the adsorbents.
With the help of our multifaceted plan for education and workforce development, we aim to bring the concept of breathing buildings to every household, so that every individual could benefit from the new role of the built environment in human health, environmental well-being, social equity and community resilience. The Center will further revolutionize students' experience by centering it on use-inspired research. This in turn will produce globally aware scientists that will serve as junior ambassadors of the breathing building concept.
University Partners:
Arizona State University
City College of New York
Virginia Commonwealth University
Pennsylvania State University
University of Rhode Island
University of Texas at Austin
Howard University
City College of New York
Virginia Commonwealth University
Pennsylvania State University
University of Rhode Island
University of Texas at Austin
Howard University
Industry Partners:
Trane Technologies
Well Living Lab
Airsset
Clarity
Arbnco
Veea
Matellio
