The catalytic decomposition of ozone (200–1600 ppm) to molecular oxygen was investigated over activated carbons in the form of woven fibre fabrics (ACF) or granules (ACG) at room temperature. The dynamics of carbon activity was characterised by two distinct regions. First the ‘‘high activity’’ towards ozone decomposition was observed, which was mainly due to chemical interaction of ozone with c...

Based on previous findings that ozone can induce an inflammatory response in the ocular surface of an animal model and in cultured human conjunctival epithelial cells, we investigated whether exposure to ozone exacerbates symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis. We evaluated the effects of exposure to ozone on conjunctival chemosis, conjunctival injection, corneal and conjunctival fluorescein stain...

Ozone is a highly reactive form of oxygen produced in the atmosphere by photochemical reactions involving substrates emitted from automobile engines. Outdoor air concentrations as high as 0.4 parts per million (ppm) occur. The respiratory tract extracts about 90% of inhaled ozone. From the chemical reactivity of ozone, it is expected to attack organic molecules located on or near the respirator...

We constructed new global potential energy surface for O + O2 → O3 reaction. It is based on high level electronic structure theory calculations and employs fitting by permutationally invariant polynomial functions. This method of surface construction takes full advantage of permutation symmetry of three O nuclei and allows reducing dramatically the number of ab initio data points needed for acc...

Methane (CH(4)) contributes to the growing global background concentration of tropospheric ozone (O(3)), an air pollutant associated with premature mortality. Methane and ozone are also important greenhouse gases. Reducing methane emissions therefore decreases surface ozone everywhere while slowing climate warming, but although methane mitigation has been considered to address climate change, i...

Ozone profiles obtained by near-daily ozonesonde observations during campaigns at several sites in the North Atlantic are used to construct time-height cross sections of ozone concentration through the troposphere. Strong day-to-day ozone variability on the scale of synoptic meteorological disturbances is found both in the spring and in the summer throughout much of the troposphere. Layers of h...

The oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere is affected by anthropogenic emissions and is projected to change in the future. Model calculations indicate that the change in surface ozone at some locations could be large and have significant implications for human health. The calculations depend on the precise scenarios used for the anthropogenic emissions and on the details of the feedback processe...

Chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances (ODSs) are controlled by the 1987 Montreal Protocol. In consequence, atmospheric equivalent chlorine peaked in 1993 and has been declining slowly since then. Consistent with this, models project a gradual increase in stratospheric ozone with the Antarctic ozone hole expected to disappear by ∼2050. However, we show that by 2013 the Mont...

Catalytic ozone decomposition is of great significance because ozone is a toxic substance commonly found or generated in human environments (aircraft cabins, offices with photocopiers, laser printers, sterilizers). Considerable work has been done on ozone decomposition reported in the literature. This review provides a comprehensive summary of the literature, concentrating on analysis of the ph...