Abstract
Due to the physico-chemical characteristics of cementitious materials the aesthetic quality of these materials tend to decrease easily. On the other hand, the photocatalytic activity produced by TiO 2 loaded cementitious materials have recently allowed them to include self-cleaning and air-purifying properties. However, because a better understanding of these properties is still needed, only a limited number of these materials is present in the construction market. As a strategy to improve this situation, non standards tests based on photodegradation of organic dyes have become widely used to evaluate the photocatalytic action of the different materials. Today, a wide spectrum of non easily comparable results have been produced. In order to improve this situation, this paper focuses on the description of the developed laboratory tests as well as on the evaluation of the self-cleaning potential of the first buildings containing TiO 2 . Finally, future research challenges in this field are identified.
Highlights
Because cementitious materials, especially those exposed to outdoor conditions, are direct and continuously exposed to many atmospheric pollutants, microorganisms and different weather conditions, they have an accelerated deterioration process which can produce in many cases important changes in the materials’ properties, specially on aesthetic properties
Serious colour changes are produced on buildings and structures due to the mineral composite nature of cementitious materials which causes relatively high porosity, roughness and a rich mineral composition that enable the easy deposition of coloured organic pollutants, particulate matter and partially facilitates microbiological growth
Considering the successful results obtained in the previous applications of TiO2 photocatalysis and on the other hand, the conditions offered by building materials for its application, titanium dioxide has been applied in different cementitious materials
Summary
Due to the physico-chemical characteristics of cementitious materials the aesthetic quality of these materials tend to decrease . The photocatalytic activity produced by TiO2 loaded cementitious materials have recently allowed them to include self-cleaning and air-purifying properties. Because a better understanding of these properties is still needed, only a limited number of these materials is present in the construction market. As a strategy to improve this situation, non standards tests based on photodegradation of organic dyes have become widely used to evaluate the photocatalytic action of the different materials. A wide spectrum of non comparable results have been produced. In order to improve this situation, this paper focuses on the description of the developed laboratory tests as well as on the evaluation of the self-cleaning potential of the first buildings containing TiO2.
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