Efficiency and durability of g-C3N4-based coatings applied on mortar under peeling and washing trials
Yu Yang (Fuzhou University)
Tao Ji (Fuzhou University)
Zhengxian Yang (Fuzhou University)
Y. Zhang (Fuzhou University, TU Delft - Materials and Environment)
Wenyue Su (Fuzhou University)
Ronghan Wu (Fuzhou University)
Zehao Wu (Fuzhou University)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Durability of photocatalytic coatings is a major concern in engineering practice. Here, two types of novel visible light-responsive coatings, both consisting of vinyl chloride/vinyl ester/ethylene copolymer (as a binder) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) but different in fabrication, are proposed and applied on the mortar surface. The first type is mono-layer coating (MC), where the g-C3N4 suspension containing the binder is directly sprayed on the mortar. The second type is double-layer coating (DC), where the binder layer is applied on mortar surface before spraying the g-C3N4 layer. Results show that the binder addition leads to a good anchorage of the coatings on both MC and DC mortar substrates, along with desirable resistance to peeling and washing, compared to the g-C3N4 coated mortar without the binder. The well-distributed binder in g-C3N4-based coating inevitably decreases the photocatalytic efficiency of the MC mortar due to masking effect of the binder on the coating surface. The DC mortar, on the contrary, takes full advantage of the binder adhesion by inserting a binder layer and therefore holds strong resistance to peeling and washing without compromising its photocatalytic efficiency. The proposed DC technique provides a promising strategy to fabricate highly cost-effective and durable photocatalytic coatings applied on cementitious materials.