Concrete, mortar and plaster using titanium dioxide nanoparticles: applications in pollution control, self-cleaning and photo sterilization - Nanotechnology in Eco-efficient Construction - page 296

• In the same year, Kato and Masuo reported the use of a TiO 2 suspension
to photocatalyse the oxidation of tetralin, opening the way to similar
processes proposed by McLintock and Ritchie on ethylene and propyl-
ene in 1965.
• In 1972 Fujishima and Honda for the fi rst time reported the production
of a TiO 2 -based electrochemical cell for water splitting, which consisted
of a single crystal rutile photoanode and a platinum counter electrode.
This is now known as the 'Honda-Fujishima effect'.
• Frank and Bard (1977a, 1977b) fi rst used TiO 2 as remedy to environ-
mental pollution issues by studying the liquid phase reduction of cyanide
ions in the presence of TiO 2 powders.
• This publication was followed in the same year by the development
of nitrogen reducing solar cells - photocatalytic reduction of N 2 to
ammonia - performed on pure and Fe-doped TiO 2 (Schrauzer and Guth,
1977).
• In 1978 TiO 2 -catalysed organic synthesis was introduced by Kreutler
and Bard (photosynthesis of methane from acetic acid).
• In 1985 TiO 2 was fi rst applied successfully in biocide bacteria photokill-
ing (Matsunaga et al. , 1985); this concept was then applied to tumour
cells (Fujishima et al. , 1986).
• Matthews (1987) was the fi rst to use TiO 2 powders immobilized on a
substrate for liquid phase organic photocatalysis, to avoid fi ltration and
resuspension.
• In 1991 O'Regan and Gratzel proposed the use of TiO 2 as anode in
dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells.
• In 1995 the superhydrophilic effect was fi rst noticed by Fujishima's
research group, leading to the development of self-cleaning and antifog-
ging surfaces (Wang et al. , 1997).
• The fi rst photocatalytic TiO 2 products were delivered commercially in
the late 1990s in the form of self-cleaning tiles and glass: in 1995, the
Japanese company TOTO Ltd. started the manufacture of antibacterial
Cu- or Ag-containing TiO 2 tiles, mainly for operating rooms (Watanabe
et al. , 1995).
• The Marunouchi Building (or Marubiru), in Tokyo, opened in 2002,
one of the fi rst buildings featuring self-cleaning windows (Ohtani,
2010).

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• Photoactivation was proved to induce a hardness modifi cation in the

surface of TiO 2 , due to compressive stresses that are induced by volume
increases connected with the onset of the superhydrophilic state (Shibata
et al. , 2003).

• The church Dives in Misericordia (Rome, Italy), designed by Richard

Meier for the Jubilee and fi nished in 2003, is one of the fi rst examples
of photocatalytic technology in Europe: it was built with TiO 2 -modifi ed