Multifunctional and Environmentally Friendly TiO₂-SiO₂ Mesoporous Materials for Sustainable Green Buildings

This work deals with the formulation of environmentally friendly, cheap, and readily-available materials for green building applications, providing the function of air purificator by improving the safety and the comfort of an indoor environment. High surface area TiO₂-SiO₂ samples, prepared by a simple, cost effective, and scalable synthetic approach, proved to be effective in maximizing the properties of each component, i.e., the photocatalytic properties of titania and the high surface area of silica. TiO₂ was introduced onto an ordered mesoporous silica Santa Barbara Amorphous-15 (SBA-15), that is featured by interesting insulating features, by using an incipient wetness impregnation method. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated in gas phase oxidation of ethylbenzene, which was selected as model volatile organic compound (VOC) molecule. The morphological, textural and structural features along with the electronic properties, the hydrophilicity and heat capacity of the materials were investigated in depth by scanning electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, N2 physisorption, diffuse reflectance UV-Vis, FT-IR spectroscopies, and modulated DSC (MDSC) dynamic scan. Outstanding performances in the ethylbenzene abatement results are promising for further application in the green building sector.