Selective Reduction of Harmful Components in Cigarette Smoke with Hydrophobic Nanometer Silicon Dioxide

Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of surface properties of nanometer materials on their performance of selectively reducing major harmful components in cigarette smoke,hydrophilic nanometer SiO2 was modified by trimethylsilyl chloride silane,and the SiO2 samples before and after modification were separately added into tobacco or filter tips for studying their functions.The results showed that: the hydroxy group was basically disappeared from the surface of modified nanometer SiO2 and the sample exhibited hydrophobic property.When the modified nanometer SiO2 was added into cut tobacco,about 27% of phenol and 12% of crotonaldehyde were removed from mainstream cigarette smoke,and CO content decreased slightly.Contrarily,the contents of phenol,crotonaldehyde and CO in the samples containing hydrophilic nanometer SiO2 increased to different extents.Similarly,when the modified nanometer SiO2 was added into filter tip,about 13% of phenol and 8% of crotonaldehyde were removed from mainstream cigarette smoke,while hydrophilic nanometer SiO2 was inoperative.Therefore,the hydrophobic property of nanometer materials plays an important role in selective adsorption of weak-polar harmful components in cigarette smoke.