Development of self-cleaning cement mortar exposed to indoor and outdoor environment

The presence of volatile organic compounds and other gaseous contaminants in both the indoor and outdoor environments causes the building's aesthetics and human health to deteriorate. It is vital to clean the indoor and outdoor environments to address this difficult problem. The development of self-cleaning concrete will provide a remedy for this issue. Self-cleaning characteristics can be incorporated in to cement with the addition of photocatalytic substances, such as Titanium Dioxide (TiO2). This enables the preservation of building surfaces and the decrease of air pollution in the environment. In the present study, TiO2 in cement mortar containing barites powder is utilized to evaluate the self-cleaning behavior and setting time of cement mortar. The self-cleaning experiment was conducted in two ways: coating mortar samples with dye and dipping mortar samples in Methylene Blue dye. The samples of mortar are then subjected to sunlight and LED light. The efficacy of self-cleaning was measured by measuring the concentration of Methylene Blue and observing it physically. In all situations, the self-cleaning ability of mortar samples was greater when exposed to sunlight than LED light. Moreover, coated samples were more efficient than immersion samples. Higher TiO2 dosage has demonstrated enhanced performance.