Self-cleaning and air purification performance of Portland cement paste with low dosages of nanodispersed TiO2 coatings
Zixiao Wang, Florent Gauvin, Pan Feng, H.J.H. Brouwers, Qingliang Yu
Abstract
The strong agglomeration potential and poor re-dispersibility of nano TiO2 particles in powder form seriously affect the depollution and self-cleaning performances. The nano TiO2 particles in hydrosol form can be stably dispersed in aqueous solution, but the synthetic temperature influences the crystal pattern, stability, and hydrodynamic diameter of nano TiO2 particles. In this study, a stable and nano dispersed anatase TiO2 hydrosol is synthesized by hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide, and the effects of synthetic temperature on physicochemical properties and stability of TiO2 hydrosol are discussed. The photocatalytic and self-cleaning performances of synthetic TiO2 hydrosol coating are characterized by the colour change rate of Rhodamine B and NOx conversion UV irradiation. Compared with a commercial nano TiO2 powder (Degussa P-25), the TiO2 hydrosol coating with very low dosages shows better photocatalytic and self-cleaning performances under the same experimental conditions.