Final published version
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Photocatalytic activity of TiO2-SiO2 nanocomposites applied to buildings
T2 - Influence of particle size and loading
AU - Pinho, L.
AU - Mosquera, M.J.
PY - 2013/5/2
Y1 - 2013/5/2
N2 - Atmospheric pollution has an evidently adverse impact on the esthetics of urban buildings and structures. Thus, the synthesis of photocatalysts capable of removing pollutants deposited on the surface of stone and other building materials is a challenge to researchers. By a simple and low cost process we have synthesized mesoporous TiO2–SiO2 photocatalytic coatings that meet the requirements of outdoor application. These are new materials designed to give to the building material long-term self-cleaning and strengthening properties.We have varied the loading and size of TiO2 nanoparticles in order to investigate their effect on the photocatalytic activity. We find that the integration of larger and sharper titania particles in a silica network with a titania content of around 4% (w/v) significantly improves self-cleaning effectiveness, due to the enhanced availability of surface photoactive sites. For a higher TiO2 content (10%, w/v), photocatalytic action decreases because the porous volume is drastically reduced and consequently, access to photoactive sites is more difficult.
AB - Atmospheric pollution has an evidently adverse impact on the esthetics of urban buildings and structures. Thus, the synthesis of photocatalysts capable of removing pollutants deposited on the surface of stone and other building materials is a challenge to researchers. By a simple and low cost process we have synthesized mesoporous TiO2–SiO2 photocatalytic coatings that meet the requirements of outdoor application. These are new materials designed to give to the building material long-term self-cleaning and strengthening properties.We have varied the loading and size of TiO2 nanoparticles in order to investigate their effect on the photocatalytic activity. We find that the integration of larger and sharper titania particles in a silica network with a titania content of around 4% (w/v) significantly improves self-cleaning effectiveness, due to the enhanced availability of surface photoactive sites. For a higher TiO2 content (10%, w/v), photocatalytic action decreases because the porous volume is drastically reduced and consequently, access to photoactive sites is more difficult.
KW - TiO2 photocatalyst
KW - Mesoporous SiO2 support
KW - Surfactant-synthesized material
KW - Self-cleaning properties
KW - Building materials
KW - Outdoor applications
U2 - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2013.01.021
DO - 10.1016/j.apcatb.2013.01.021
M3 - Journal article
VL - 134-135
SP - 205
EP - 221
JO - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
JF - Applied Catalysis B: Environmental
SN - 0926-3373
ER -