How Nanofilters are Revolutionizing Air Quality in Cars

The automotive industry has now become aware of nanotechnology’s potential. Lightweight nanomaterials, nanofilters, nanofluids, and scratch-resistant paints have found their place in the industry, improving the quality of the air drivers inhale while in their cars and that drawn into the engine to enhance performance.

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Nanotechnology in the Automotive Industry

Nanotechnology can increase the quality of car components, from the paint and batteries to fuel cells, tires, and windows. “The introducing of nanotechnology is augmenting the performance of existing automotive technologies,” said Muhammad Shafique in Nanotechnology in Transportation Vehicles: An Overview of Its Applications, Environmental, Health and Safety Concerns.

Key advantages of using nanotechnology in cars include making body parts lighter and more robust, boosting vehicle safety, and enhancing fuel efficiency for superior driving performance. This article explores how nanofilters clean the air inside a car.

Clean Air Inside Cars and Their Engines

Once applied to a filter, a nanomaterial layer more effectively removes dust particles inside a car. The absorption rate for 2 µm particles is 40 % for a conventional filter and around 89 % for a nanofiller. In addition to dust particles, nanofiber filters can also catch microbes.

This may occur by integrating environmentally friendly additives into the nanofilters that filter the air inside a car.

Gold, silver, titanium dioxide, and nanotubes built from titanium and copper produce the best results. Gold- and silver-based antimicrobials are biocidal. They eliminate microbes by communicating between the microorganism’s negatively charged cell membrane and the positively charged biocide.

Applying Nanospider^TM to Automotive Air Filtration

Elmarco’s Nanospider^TM technology produces nanofibers that are utilized as a layer to filter the air inside a vehicle and its engine. The first car air filters began development in 1998. Activated carbon and particulate filters came first, followed by traditional dust filters. Nanofibers fabricated with Nanospider^TM technology have been used in automotive air filters since 2012.

Integrated as traditional air filters between the car’s air intake opening and air conditioning system, the filters comprise a sophisticated nanofiber “mesh” with activated carbon. They protect drivers from carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and harmful particles up to 40 % more efficiently than filters in current use.

Harmful particles include emission particles, microbial particles, pollen, soot, and ultra-fine dust particles ranging up to 100 nm in diameter.

Air filtration is made possible when air enters the filter via the front of the car. There, the nanofiber’s ultra-fine components capture and filter out harmful microscopic particles. The car’s air conditioning system then transfers the purified air through the interior, leaving via the air vents on either side of the car’s rear.

Nanofilters Protect Car Bodywork From Scratches

A thin nanoparticle filter sprayed on the car’s body is superior for protecting its bodywork from scratches and increasing scratch resistance. Outer filter layer thickness ranges from 5 to 50 µm, protecting the lower layers from bad weather.

Nanofibers Create Lighter and Stronger Bodywork

Using nanofibers lessens the car’s weight and fuel consumption. Farzad Afshari noted that using nanofibers additionally helps lower carbon dioxide emissions in city areas.

Nanotechnology Enhances Engine Efficiency

Vignesh Srinivasan has outlined an aluminum nanomaterial filter that lessens the friction of the cylinder walls, exploring how aluminum nanomaterial filters reduce cylinder wall friction. A higher concentration of Al₂O₃ nanoparticles improves the engine’s cooling effect for less wear and longer component life.

Efficient and Durable Nanomaterial-Based Tires

As the proper rubber composition makes driving more secure, adding the correct nanoparticles to rubber composites ensures higher levels of safety and extended tire life.

References and Further Reading

1. Shafique, M. and Luo, X. (2019). Nanotechnology in Transportation Vehicles: An Overview of Its Applications, Environmental, Health and Safety Concerns. Materials, 12(15), p.2493. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12152493.
2. Afshari, F., et al. (2017). The Effects of Nanofilter and Nanoclay on Reducing Pollutant Emissions from Rapeseed Biodiesel in a Diesel Engine. Waste and Biomass Valorization, 9(9), pp.1655–1667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-017-9913-1.
3. https://product.statnano.com/product/10377/automotive-air-filters
4. L. Natrayan, et al (2021). Processing and Characterization of Carbon Nanofibre Composites for Automotive Applications. Journal of nanomaterials, 2021, pp.1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/7323885.
5. Ching, Y.C. and Nurehan Syamimie (2013). Effect of Nanosilica Filled Polyurethane Composite Coating on Polypropylene Substrate. Journal of Nanomaterials, 2013(1). https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/567908.
6. Ramezanzadeh, B., et al. (2009). An evaluation of an automotive clear coat performance exposed to bird droppings under different testing approaches. Progress in Organic Coatings, 66(2), pp.149–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2009.06.010.
7. Ajdary, M., et al. (2018). Health Concerns of Various Nanoparticles: A Review of Their in Vitro and in Vivo Toxicity. Nanomaterials, 8(9), p.634. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano8090634.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by ELMARCO.

For more information on this source, please visit ELMARCO.