Preparation of photochromic and afterglow concrete from recycled polystyrene plastic waste immobilized with strontium aluminate nanoparticles

Abstract

Strontium aluminate nanoparticles (SAN) were immobilized into recycled polystyrene plastic (PSP) waste to produce transparent photoluminescent concrete. The prepared SAN@PSP plastic showed strong optical transmittance, ultraviolet protection, photochromism, high mechanical strength, durability, photostability, and afterglow emission. Recycled polystyrene waste was mixed with different amounts of SAN (17–42 nm) to make a smart concrete with an afterglow emission. A bright afterglow smart concrete was casted from a mixture of the generated colorless PSP plastic and SAN. The excitation and emission spectra were recorded to learn more about its photoluminescence capabilities. The colorless polystyrene plates became bright green beneath ultraviolet supply and greenish-yellow beneath darkness, as measured by photoluminescence parameters. An emission peak at 518 nm, and an excitation peak at 365 nm were monitored in the polystyrene smart concrete. CIE color space results were employed to confirm the homogeneous transparency of the photochromic concrete. The hydrophobicity, hardness, photostability, and UV shielding all increased with an increase in the SAN ratio. When exposed to UV light, fast and reversible fluorescence was shown by the luminescent polystyrene substrates with a low SAN ratio, whereas luminescent polystyrene substrates with a larger SAN concentration exhibited afterglow.