Civil Engineering Reference
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occurrence of (i) the degradation of greasy deposits accumulating on their
surface and (ii) a state of photoinduced superhydrophilicity, with conse-
quent washing away of reaction products, as reported by several authors
including Mellott
et al.
(2006). The applications of these materials concern
horizontal (cementitious tiles, pavings) and vertical structures (plasters,
coatings, concrete structures) as well as galleries (cementitious paintings,
concrete panels, asphalt coatings). Self-cleaning properties are mostly
exploited in white concrete buildings: among the most representative exam-
ples, the Cité des Arts et de la Musique in Chambéry, France (Fig. 13.7a),
completed in 2000, and the church Dives in Misericordia, built in Rome,
Italy, by architect Richard Meier in 2003 (Fig. 13.7b).
Experimental works on TiO
2
-containing construction materials were
carried out by several research groups, usually performing the addition of
titanium dioxide nanopowders or suspensions, with varying particle size, to
cement pastes, plasters, mortars and concretes, generally characterized by a
low water-to-cement ratio. On the other hand, little information is available
on the actual behaviour of the photocatalyst integrated in the material, and
particularly on its evolution in time. A summary of experimental works
proposed on photoactive construction materials is reported in the following
sections.
13.4.1 Interaction with hydraulic and non-hydraulic binders
The introduction of TiO
2
nanoparticles in building materials surely brings
advantages, mainly from an economic point of view (i.e., the decrease in
(a)
(b)
13.7
Examples of buildings produced with TiO
2
-containing cement:
(a) Cité des Arts et de la Musique, Chambéry, (b) church Dives in
Misericordia, Rome.
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