Experimental Study on Photocatalytic Efficiency of TiO2-Coated Cement Plaster in Reduction of Ambient TVOC

The emission of pollutants and harmful gases like VOCs from vehicles and industries have degraded the air quality significantly and consequently affected human and structural health. Although the photo-catalysis technique is widely used for the treatment of air pollution, selecting an efficient photo-catalyst having strong oxidizing ability and chemical stability is still a major challenge. In this paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO2 in reducing air pollutants such as total VOCs. A parametric study has been conducted with the characterization of different proportions of TiO2 sprayed over the selected building surface to determine the optimum dose. The decontamination efficacy of TiO2 was obtained from the initial and final concentration of known TVOCs inside the reaction chambers. The obtained results showed the variation of degradation rate from 7E−07 to 5E−07 s−1cm−2 of coating and the maximum degradation rate constant of 8.70E−06 s−1cm−2 corresponding to 14.9% of TiO2 dose by cement weight. Which justifies the viability of TiO2 in the purification of the surrounding environment and advocates its widespread use on the building surfaces.