Engineering Photocatalytic Cements: Understanding TiO2 Surface Chemistry to Control and Modulate Photocatalytic Performances

The present work addresses the aggregation/dispersion properties of two commercial titanias for application as photocatalysts in concrete technology. A microsized m-TiO2 (average particle size 153.7 ± 48.1 nm) and a nanosized n-TiO2 (average particle size 18.4 ± 5.0 nm) have been tested in different ionic media (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Cl−, SO42−, synthetic cement pore solution) at different pHs and in real cement paste specimens. Results highlighted that ion–ion correlations play a fundamental role in TiO2 particles aggregation in the cement environment. A particle aggregation model derived from TiO2 surface chemistry is proposed here and used to justify such aggregation phenomena in real cement pa…