Abstract
This paper presents the results of a preliminary study on assessing the photocatalytic activities when nano-TiO2is intermixed in self-compacting glass mortars (SCGM) in terms of the air pollutant removal and bacteria inactivation. Nitrogen oxide (NO) and Escherichia coli K12 were used as the target air pollutant and bacteria test strain respectively. In addition, the influence of nano-TiO2dosage (0%, 2% and 5%) and recycled glass colour (light green and transparent) on the fluidity and compressive strength of nano-TiO2-based SCGM was also evaluated. The results showed that more superplasticizer dosage was required to help the dispersion of nano-TiO2particles to achieve the same fluidity. Meanwhile, with the addition of nano-TiO2either 2% or 5%, about a 12% compressive strength increment was observed in SCGM. In the case of NO removal, an increasing trend of NO removal was accompanied by an increase in TiO2content. For a given dosage of TiO2, the SCGM prepared with transparent recycled glass showed a slightly higher NO removal rate than that prepared with light green recycled glass. As for the antibacterial activity, however, all of the TiO2intermixed SCGMs showed little inactivation ability of E. coli. Taking into account the above obtained results, it can be concluded that compared with NO removal, photocatalytic bacteria inactivation is a more complex process and the results for photocatalytic activity of NO removal cannot always be extrapolated to photocatalytic antibacterial activity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1-6 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Building and Environment |
Volume | 53 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2012 |
Keywords
- Air pollutant removal
- Bacteria inactivation
- Cementitious materials
- Photocatalysis
- Titanium dioxide
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Building and Construction