TY - JOUR
T1 - Discovery and ramifications of incidental Magnéli phase generation and release from industrial coal-burning
AU - Yang, Yi
AU - Chen, Bo
AU - Hower, James
AU - Schindler, Michael
AU - Winkler, Christopher
AU - Brandt, Jessica
AU - Di Giulio, Richard
AU - Ge, Jianping
AU - Liu, Min
AU - Fu, Yuhao
AU - Zhang, Lijun
AU - Chen, Yuru
AU - Priya, Shashank
AU - Hochella, Michael F.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Coal, as one of the most economic and abundant energy sources, remains the leading fuel for producing electricity worldwide. Yet, burning coal produces more global warming CO2 relative to all other fossil fuels, and it is a major contributor to atmospheric particulate matter known to have a deleterious respiratory and cardiovascular impact in humans, especially in China and India. Here we have discovered that burning coal also produces large quantities of otherwise rare Magnéli phases (Ti x O2x-1 with 4 ≤ x ≤ 9) from TiO2 minerals naturally present in coal. This provides a new tracer for tracking solid-state emissions worldwide from industrial coal-burning. In its first toxicity testing, we have also shown that nanoscale Magnéli phases have potential toxicity pathways that are not photoactive like TiO2 phases, but instead seem to be biologically active without photostimulation. In the future, these phases should be thoroughly tested for their toxicity in the human lung.
AB - Coal, as one of the most economic and abundant energy sources, remains the leading fuel for producing electricity worldwide. Yet, burning coal produces more global warming CO2 relative to all other fossil fuels, and it is a major contributor to atmospheric particulate matter known to have a deleterious respiratory and cardiovascular impact in humans, especially in China and India. Here we have discovered that burning coal also produces large quantities of otherwise rare Magnéli phases (Ti x O2x-1 with 4 ≤ x ≤ 9) from TiO2 minerals naturally present in coal. This provides a new tracer for tracking solid-state emissions worldwide from industrial coal-burning. In its first toxicity testing, we have also shown that nanoscale Magnéli phases have potential toxicity pathways that are not photoactive like TiO2 phases, but instead seem to be biologically active without photostimulation. In the future, these phases should be thoroughly tested for their toxicity in the human lung.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-017-00276-2
DO - 10.1038/s41467-017-00276-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 28790379
AN - SCOPUS:85027078112
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 8
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 194
ER -