HUGO DESTAILLATS
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Last update: January 2012 
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WHAT'S NEW?
Article in PNAS:
"Formation of carcinogens indoors by surface-mediated reactions of nicotine with nitrous acid, leading to potential thirdhand smoke hazards"
M. Sleiman, L.A. Gundel, J.F. Pankow, P. Jacob III, B.C. Singer and H. Destaillats.
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2010, 107, 6576-6581.
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See media coverage here .
Cover article in Environmental Health Perspectives
featuring our work on tobacco smoke residues:
"Does the smoke ever really clear? Thirdhand smoke exposure raises new concerns"
by A. Burton.
Environ. Health Perspect, 2011, 119, A70-A74.
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RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research interests comprise different areas of environmental chemistry:
1) the study of fate and transport of pollutants,
2) the characterization of pathways of human exposure to toxic environmental contaminants,
3) the development of advanced remediation technologies and novel materials for water and air treatment.
Our recent work has focused on chemical transformations of pollutants in the built environment.
A better understanding of chemical processes taking place in indoor air and on surfaces can contribute to improving
exposure assessments, and to the development of novel functionalized building materials and furnishings.
Such materials can prevent pollutant formation and catalyze their passive elimination. Similarly, active air cleaning technologies
relying on adsorption and catalytic degradation of volatile organic compounds have the potential to remove significant
amounts of airborne indoor pollutants, enabling energy-saving reductions in outdoor air ventilation.
External building envelope surfaces, and particularly roofing, play a key role in the building energy balance.
Highly reflective "cool" roofs can save up to 20% of annual cooling energy. Collectively, cool building envelopes and
pavements can help mitigate the urban heat island effect and offset carbon dioxide emissions. However, an initially
reflective surface may lose quickly a significant fraction of its performance due to soiling and weathering,
when placed in contact with a polluted or corrosive atmosphere. Our research at LBNL is
currently developing the methods and metrics for accelerated aging of cool roofing surfaces, to facilitate the development
of the next generation of advanced building envelope materials with high aged solar reflectances.
THE BIG PICTURE:
TOWARDS A HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Our societies are facing the challenge of climate change adaptation and mitigation. The built environment plays a key role in these complex problems: it is the principal setting for human exposure to pollutants, and a major consumer of material and energy resources. Currently, innovative green buildings and zero-energy buildings are test beds for a broad range of energy conservation features, for distributed generation and use of renewable energy, and for the use of novel construction materials and furnishings. Most of these changes also affect indoor air quality, in ways that need to be better characterized. An important goal of my work is to identify the innovative building technologies, materials and practices that will help reduce the environmental footprint of urban development and improve indoor environmental quality.
REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS
“Quantitative room-temperature mineralization of airborne formaldehyde using manganese oxide catalysts”
M. Sidheswaran, H. Destaillats, D.P. Sullivan, J. Larsen and W.J. Fisk.
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2011, 107, 34-41.
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"Effect of key parameters on the photocatalytic oxidation of toluene at low concentrations in air under 254 + 185 nm UV irradiation"
N. Quici, M.L. Vera, H. Choi, G. Li Puma, D.D. Dionysiou, M.I. Litter, H. Destaillats.
Applied Catalysis B: Environmental 2010, 95, 312-319.
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"Efficiency of clay-TiO2 nanocomposites on the photocatalytic elimination of a model hydrophobic air pollutant"
D. Kibanova, J. Cervini-Silva and H. Destaillats. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, 1500-1506.
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“Effect of ozone on nicotine desorption from model surfaces: evidence for heterogeneous chemistry”
H. Destaillats, B.C. Singer, S.K. Lee and L.A. Gundel.
Environ. Sci. Technol.
2006, 40, 1799-1805.
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“Indoor secondary pollutants from the use of household products in the presence of ozone. A bench scale study”
H. Destaillats, M.M. Lunden, B.C. Singer, B.K. Coleman, A.T. Hodgson, C.J. Weschler and W.W. Nazaroff.
Environ. Sci. Technol.
2006, 40, 4421-4428.
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“Synergistic effects on sonolysis combined with ozonolysis for the oxidation of azobenzene and methyl orange”
H. Destaillats, A. J. Colussi, J. M. Joseph and M. R. Hoffmann,
J. Phys. Chem. A
2000, 104, 8930-8935.
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Click here for a complete publication list.
Contact information
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
1 Cyclotron Road MS 70-108B
Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Phone:(+1-510) 486-5897
Email: HDestaillats@lbl.gov