1 Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
2 Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Fariborz.Haghighat@concordia.ca.

Ozone is a hazardous air pollutant with significant adverse effects on human health and the environment. With the growing industrial use of ozone, effective ozone removal systems have become essential, especially to protect workers' health. MnO_x-based catalysts offer substantial promise for ozone decomposition; however, a major challenge in their application is water molecule poisoning, particularly in high humidity conditions. This study addresses this limitation by developing a hybrid filtration medium that combines an enhanced MnO_x catalyst with hydrophobic polymer particles. In bench-scale tests simulating ozone filtration scenarios, MnO_x-based catalysts synthesized using solid interface reaction method demonstrated higher efficiency than those produced by co-precipitation method. Among the synthesized catalysts, Ce(0.1)Mn-S catalyst (a Cerium doped catalyst prepared by solid interface reaction) achieved the highest efficiency, notably under high humidity (47.5% efficiency after1 h at 10 ppm and RH = 80%, which is 1.6 times higher than other catalysts). The catalyst, however, experienced efficiency loss under prolonged exposure to humidity (22% after 6 h). To counteract this, poly(vinylidene fluoride) particles-a hydrophobic, ozone-compatible polymer-were integrated into the catalytic medium, resulting a dramatic performance boost (91.5% efficiency after 1 h and 50% after 6 h, under the aforementioned conditions) by hindering interparticle water condensation. The proposed hybrid medium is expected to offer considerable utility in diverse ozone removal settings.