Photocatalytic oxide films in the built environment

INERA Workshop: Transition Metal Oxide Thin Films-functional Layers in "Smart windows" and Water Splitting Devices

Österlund, Lars^1 ; Topalian, Zareh^1

Department of Engineering Sciences, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala

SE-751 21, Sweden^1

关键词: Acid-base surface properties;    Chemically modified;    Green architectures;    Illumination sources;    Photocatalytic materials;    Self-cleaning properties;    Sick house syndromes;    Surface chemical modifications;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/559/1/012009/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/559/1/012009

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The possibility to increase human comfort in buildings is a powerful driving force for the introduction of new technology. Among other things our sense of comfort depends on air quality, temperature, lighting level, and the possibility of having visual contact between indoors and outdoors. Indeed there is an intimate connection between energy, comfort, and health issues in the built environment, leading to a need for intelligent building materials and green architecture. Photocatalytic materials can be applied as coatings, filters, and be embedded in building materials to provide self-cleaning, antibacterial, air cleaning, deodorizing, and water cleaning functions utilizing either solar light or artificial illumination sources-either already present in buildings, or by purposefully designed luminaries. Huge improvements in indoor comfort can thus be made, and also alleviate negative health effects associated with buildings, such as the sick-house syndrome. At the same time huge cost savings can be made by reducing maintenance costs. Photocatalytic oxides can be chemically modified by changing their acid-base surface properties, which can be used to overcome deactivation problems commonly encountered for TiO2in air cleaning applications. In addition, the wetting properties of oxides can be tailored by surface chemical modifications and thus be made e.g. oleophobic and water repellent. Here we show results of surface acid modified TiO2coatings on various substrates by means of photo-fixation of surface sulfate species by a method invented in our group. In particular, we show that such surface treatments of photocatalytic concrete made by mixing TiO2nanoparticles in reactive concrete powders result in concrete surfaces with beneficial self-cleaning properties. We propose that such approaches are feasible for a number of applications in the built environment, including glass, tiles, sheet metals, plastics, etc.