Recent Developments in Photocatalytic Nanotechnology for Purifying Air Polluted with Volatile Organic Compounds: Effect of Operating Parameters and Catalyst Deactivation

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The review article mainly focuses on the operating conditions and catalyst deactivation in the photocatalytic oxidation of VOC. Overall, the review article is very well-written and the content will be of interest to the scientific community. The content of the review is easy to follow and all the figures are clear and relevant. A few comments are as follows: 

1. The title is inappropriate as the review's content did not emphasise the recent nanomaterials used in PCO. The title needs to be revised to highlight the focus of the review (operating parameters and the deactivation of catalysts). 

2. Page 4, section 3 (types of nano photocatalyst), it is suggested to incorporate/elaborate other materials such as carbon-based nanomaterials or other metal chalcogenides in PCO of VOCs. 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I have reviewed the manuscript entitled “Recent Developments in Photocatalytic Nanomaterials for Purifying Air Polluted with Volatile Organic Compounds: A Review”. The review is written in well manner and covers several aspects for the removal of volatile organic compounds. They show effect of humidity, light intensity, catalyst loading and so on for the photocatalytic oxidation of volatile organic compounds and explained the problem faced in this process and suggest solutions also. This literature added valuable content toward this topic for further research. I suggest that some minor corrections that need to be corrected before the publication in your esteem journal and that are as follows-

1.      Authors have missed some recent literature including research, chapters and reviews to cite in manuscript. Please cite these articles and add more recent literature.

1.      Shah, K.W.; Li, W. A Review on Catalytic Nanomaterials for Volatile Organic Compounds VOC Removal and Their Applications for Healthy Buildings. Nanomaterials 2019, 9, 910. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9060910

2.      Enesca, A.; Cazan, C. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Removal from Indoor Air by Heterostructures/Composites/Doped Photocatalysts: A Mini-Review. Nanomaterials 2020, 10, 1965. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10101965

3.      Louis, Jesna, Padmanabhan, Nisha T. and John, Honey. "Chapter 9 Commercial Applications and Future Trends of Photocatalytic Materials". Photocatalysis, edited by Suresh C. Pillai and Vignesh Kumaravel, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 343-380. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110668483-009

4.      Advances and challenges of photocatalytic technology for air purification, Qin Geng, Hong Wang, Ruiming Chen, Lvcun Chen, Kanglu Li and Fan DongNatl Sci Open, 1 2 (2022) 20220025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/nso/20220025

5.      A critical review on surface-modified nano-catalyst application for the photocatalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds, DOI: 10.1039/D1EN00955A (Critical Review) Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2022, 9, 61-80.

6.      David, E.; Niculescu, V.-C. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) as Environmental Pollutants: Occurrence and Mitigation Using Nanomaterials. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18, 13147.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413147

2.      The references cited in the manuscript were old. Latest references published within five years are strongly required and should account for 2/3 of the total references.

3. Title of the review should be revised

4. Typos errors in English language.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Review of the manuscript Catalysts-2196621 for the Authors:

This review deals with the topic of developments of nanomaterials for the removal of VOC from the air. The topic is quite interesting, and in my opinion, a review on this should be interesting to a broad scientific community. There are just a few details to check before publication so my recommendation, for now, is minor revision. Please see the details below.

Title – Ok.

Abstract – Ok, maybe add a sentence about which materials are focused on for the PCO application.

Introduction – Not bad, but you jump sometimes from VOC to PCO and back again, maybe try to clearly write first about pollution, and how to tackle it, then move to PCO, then to materials suitable for PCO.

Air pollutants and VOCs – Very detailed section.

Types of nano photocatalysts –  Maybe just slightly broaden the part for this section, i.e. add some references for nanostructured/thin film/coatings of photocatalysts that can also be used?

Influence of environmental conditions – Quite detailed, and I must say the authors choose a quite often overlooked part of investigations for the focus of the review.

Conclusions and outlook – Sums up the review nicely, offering possible future courses of investigation in the field.

Literature – Up to date.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf