Breathing cleaner air inside your car – who hasn’t wished for that, especially when standing in a traffic jam?

Through the condensation of water, air-conditioning systems in cars create an ideal environment for the development of fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms, causing allergic reactions in motorists.

Biochemical engineers in Poland have developed a prototype which they say removes contamination in air conditioning units inside cars using the photo catalysis of titanium dioxide to oxidize oxygen.

“The device is installed in the air-conditioning channel in this way. The radiator is outside. Inside, there is a titanium plate where, due to the electrochemical process, nanotubes appear. Thanks to that, the UV diodes lighting the titanium surface with the nanotubes cause a chemical reaction, which leads to the creation of active forms of oxygen that get rid of all the microbiological and odor contamination,” says biotechnology engineer Dawid Sobczak.

The device has been tested in a lab, using a radiator and air channel. According to preliminary tests, it eliminates up to 98 per cent of fungi, bacteria and viruses in the car’s air vents. Its designers say it is so small it can be installed in any type of car.

According to its inventors, similar systems were attempted before but the use of mercury made them too dangerous to be applied in passenger cars.