ABSTRACT
High levels of reactive chemicals may be emitted to the indoor air during household surface cleaning, leading to poorer air quality and potential health hazards. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-based cleaners have gained popularity in recent years, especially in times of COVID-19. Still, little is known regarding the effects of H2O2 cleaning on indoor air composition. In this work we monitored time-resolved H2O2 concentrations during a cleaning campaign in an occupied single-family residence using a cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) H2O2 analyzer. During the cleaning experiments, we investigated how unconstrained (i.e., "real-life") surface cleaning with a hydrogen peroxide solution influenced the indoor air quality of the house, and performed controlled experiments to investigate factors that could influence H2O2 levels including surface area and surface material, ventilation, and dwell time of the cleaning solution. Mean peak H2O2 concentrations observed following all surface cleaning events were 135 ppbv. The factors with the greatest effect on H2O2 levels were distance of the cleaned surface from the detector inlet, type of surface cleaned, and solution dwell time.