Air decontamination device

A method of applying static electric field to an air decontamination device (100) to kill microbial cells and to reduce a level of microbial cell by over a billion fold, wherein the air decontamination device (100) comprises

• an input unit (102) for receiving air from environment through a plurality of air inlet vents (114);
• an output unit (103) for providing decontaminated air;
• a decontamination cassette (104) that comprises
• a first end (122) that is adapted to couple with the input unit (102), a second end (124) that is adapted to couple with the output unit (103);
• a plurality of pairs of conducting plates (108), wherein each pair of conducting plates comprises a positively charged conducting plate (108-1), and a negatively charged conducting plate (108-2), wherein the positively charged conducting plate (108-1), and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2) are charged when a static electric field that ranges from 2.7 KiloVolt/centimetre (kV/cm) to 4.2 kV/cm is applied, wherein the plane of the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) is aligned parallel to the plane of the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2), wherein the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2) are separated by a distance that ranges between 8 mm to 12 mm to form an airflow path (212) inside the decontamination unit (104);
• and
• a three dimensional (3D) material (110) that is coupled to both surfaces of each of the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2), wherein the three dimensional material (110) comprises surface moieties for imparting microbiocidal activity to both surfaces of the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged plate (108-2), said method comprising:
• applying the static electric field in the range of 2.7 KiloVolt/centimetre (KV/cm) to 4.2 KV/cm for 15 minutes to 30 minutes, to
• functionally exert a force on the charged microbial cells present in the air and trap the oppositely charged microbial cells, on the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2), due to attraction between charges of the microbial cells and the charges of positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2), and
• enhance the surface moieties dipole of the three dimensional microbiocidal material (110) to complete realignment to a direction of the static electric field to potentiate the microbial activity of the three dimensional material (110) to kill the microbial cells that are trapped or deposited on the positively charged conducting plate (108-1) and the negatively charged conducting plate (108-2) and to reduce a level of the microbial cells inside the decontamination unit (104) by over a billion fold.