State of the art of TiO2 containing cementitious materials: self-cleaning properties

Due to the physico-chemical characteristics of cementitious materials the aesthetic quality of these materials tend to decrease easily. On the other hand, the photocatalytic activity produced by TiO2 loaded cementitious materials have recently allowed them to include self-cleaning and air-purifying properties. However, because a better understanding of these properties is still needed, only a limited number of these materials is present in the construction market. As a strategy to improve this situation, non standards tests based on photodegradation of organic dyes have become widely used to evaluate the photocatalytic action of the different materials. Today, a wide spectrum of non easily comparable results have been produced. In order to improve this situation, this paper focuses on the description of the developed laboratory tests as well as on the evaluation of the self-cleaning potential of the first buildings containing TiO2. Finally, future research challenges in this field are identified.