Thermal extractor analysis of VOCs emitted from building materials and evaluation of the reduction performance of exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets

This study evaluated the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from building materials, such as wallpaper, paint, adhesive and wood-flooring material, using a thermal extractor (TE). To evaluate the performance of TE on VOCs emissions of building materials according to temperature variation, all specimens were measured at two temperatures: 25 °C and 35 °C. Through emission results, the acceleration effect on the diffusion of VOCs in the material at the elevated temperature and the feasibility of TE on VOCs emission test according to temperature variation were confirmed. In addition, exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP) made by using shape modification process to improve porosity of graphite, which can remove VOCs by sorption was applied to materials. The adsorption amounts of VOCs by exfoliated xGnP were evaluated at 35 °C with each specimen. The xGnP as a porous material had an effect on the material emissions; the emission amounts were reduced. The emission tests were conducted with the same exposed surface area for each specimen. As the temperature increased, VOCs emission rates increased from approximately 2 to 5 times. And the adsorption performance of xGnP showed that the reduction percentage of VOCs was 9% to 81%.