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Ceramics International, Volume 39, Issue 3, April 2013, Pages 2981-2987.
Vilma Ducman, Vladimira Petrovic, Srečo D. Skapin.
Slovenian National Building and Civil Engineering Institute, Dimičeva 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia and
Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
Self-cleaning building products are mainly based on the application of nanotitania onto exposed outdoor surfaces. In order to achieve high self-cleaning efficiency for outdoor applications, it is important that nanotitania is in the form of anatase, and that particle sizes (also in the case of additional thermal treatment) are in the nano-range, so that a large enough specific surface area can be activated. The particle size and the mineralogy of the photocatalytic layers were determined by means of SEM and Raman spectroscopy, respectively.
The self-cleaning efficiency of nanotitania-based material can be evaluated by different methods; in the present paper the suitability of the method based on the discolouration of methylene blue was verified on some samples that were prepared in-lab (through the application of commercially available TiO2 sol onto a ceramic substrate), as well as on samples of commercially available products.
