Development of Photocatalytic 3D-Printed Cementitious Mortars: Influence of the Curing, Spraying Time Gaps and TiO₂ Coating Rates

Abstract

This work evaluated the photocatalytic activity of 3D-printed cementitious mortar specimens functionalized with TiO2 nanoparticles to obtain a multifunctional and smart concrete. This research aims to assess the influence of different parameters related to the functionalization process such as adsorption, coating time gaps, and coating rates on the degradation efficiency of the functionalized cementitious specimens. Each specimen was evaluated under the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) in an aqueous solution using a sun-light simulation. The obtained results showed a decrease in adsorption (under dark condition) with increasing the sample curing age. The highest photocatalytic efficiency was observed for coated samples aged 7 days. By increasing the coating rates, the photocatalytic efficiency is enhanced. Nonetheless, regardless of the coating rates, all the specimens showed an increase in photocatalytic efficiency for longer time periods of light exposition, i.e., after 8 h of irradiation.

Keywords

• 3D concrete printing
• TiO₂ nanoparticles
• surface coating
• functionalized cementitious materials
• smart mortar
• photocatalytic mortar