Micro-TiO2 as a starting material for new photocatalytic tiles

New industrially produced photocatalytic tiles provide not only good photocatalytic performance, but also meet standard requirements with respect to hardness, lack of porosity, vitrified surface, durability. These characteristics were obtained mixing the photocatalytic materials with a commercial SiO2-based compound conventionally used to create vitrified surfaces. In the preparation, a commercial micro-TiO2 was used to avoid the use of traditional nanomaterials in powder form. Anatase form is maintained even after thermal treatments at 680 °C, as confirmed by both band gap and XRPD measurements on the final material. Photocatalytic degradation tests performed in water and air using methylene blue and NOx as a model pollutant, respectively, confirm the good performance of the tiles in both liquid and gas phase.