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3D Photocatalytic Air Processor for Dramatic Reduction of Life Support Mass and Complexity

nanostructure co-catalysts + tortuosity 3D flow system + edge lit photo electrochemical catalysis = Air processor.
Jan. 6, 2015 — At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been postponed. A thrust vector control actuator for the Falcon 9’s second stage failed to perform as expected, resulting in a launch abort. SpaceX is evaluating the issue and will determine the next opportunity to launch the company’s fifth commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. The next available opportunity to launch to the station would be Friday, Jan. 9 at 5:09 a.m. EST.
Image credit: NASA

Bin Chen
University of California

Description
The abundant high-energy light in space (with wavelengths as low as 190 nm, compared to 300 nm on Earth) makes the TiO2 co-catalyst an ideal approach for sustainable air processing to generate O2, without consuming any thermal or electrical energy. The combination of novel photoelectrochemistry and 3-dimensional design allows tremendous mass savings, hardware complexity reduction, increases in deployment flexibility and removal efficiency. Operation at near ambient temperature and pressure is inherently safer for the crew. The potential exists for the high tortousity photoelectrocatalytic air processor design to achieve more than an order of magnitude in combined mass/volume/power/cooling resource savings.The proposed work will demonstrate these drastic reductions in comparison to current technology with delivery of high-tortuosity device components allowed by advanced manufacturing (potentially in space) at the end of the proposed work.

2015 Phase I and Phase II Selections