Covei, M.Tismanar, I.Cunha Diamantino, Teresa2024-02-162024-02-162023-06Covei, M... et.al - The Stability of Tio₂-rGO Self-Cleaning Photocatalytic Coatings for Outdoor Applications. In: 18th International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment (ICCE 2023): Book of Abstracts, Venice, Italy, 11-15 June, 2023, p. 226http://hdl.handle.net/10400.9/4256ABSTRACT: Self-cleaning coatings are lately being studied for different applications such as civil buildings (windows, facades, indoor walls, metallic products), the automotive industry (mirrors, windshields, the health field (surgical rooms' walls or tiles) and renewable energies, namely for solar energy (solar reflectors, photovoltaic panel). The self-cleaning occurs through two mechanisms that involve (1) (super)hydrophobic coatings, when the pollutant rolls off the surface without being degraded or (2) (super)hydrophilic coatings, when the pollutant is dissolved in the water sheet and afterwards is degraded through the photocatalytic process (Merai et al., 2019). The most-used photocatalytic material is titanium dioxide (TiO₂) because of its non-toxicity, acceptable production cost and possible anticorrosive properties. The main disadvantage of TiO₂ is related to its UV activation which leads to additional process costs. Recent studies indicate the Vis- or solar-active composite materials (such as TiO₂ - rGO composites) as a solution to overcome the activation problem (Tismanar et al., 2021; Covei et al., 2022). However, for outdoor applications, their stability under environmental conditions (high temperature and humidity or highly corrosive atmospheres) must be analyzed. This research reports on the stability of the TiO₂/TiO₂-rGO double-layered composite thin films deposited on 5x5cm² Al substrates using up-scalable and low-cost deposition methods (spray pyrolysis deposition for TiO₂ intermediate layer coupled with sol-gel spraying for the TiO₂-rGO composite second layer).engMaterialsTitanium dioxidePhotocatalytic materialApplicationsconference object