Tunable wettability and rewritable wettability-gradient in self-cleaning composites containing nanoscale...

The photo induced properties of self-cleaning materials can be attributed to the synergy of two fundamental photochemical phenomena, oxidation-reduction reaction of adsorbed substances and photo induced superhydrophilicity, which occur on the surface of photo catalysts. The photo-induced properties make these materials able to mimic the tunable wettability of the Nepenthes-Rafflesiana leaf and tune their wettability while decomposing the air pollution. In this study the effects of UV radiation and dark storage on reversibility of the surface wettability in cement-based composites containing tin oxide nanoparticles, were investigated. In addition the self-cleaning properties of these composites were determined by measuring the decomposition of Methylene blue (MB).