Preparation and Performance Study of BiOI/TiO2 Inorganic Photocatalytic Concrete Coatings

ZHANG Miao; LI Jingjing

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.017

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Surface Technology ›› 2025, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (22) : 178-186. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.017

Surface Functionalization

Preparation and Performance Study of BiOI/TiO₂ Inorganic Photocatalytic Concrete Coatings

ZHANG Miao^*, LI Jingjing

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Abstract

It is a surface modification technology to remove atmospheric nitrogen oxides by preparing BiOI/TiO₂ composite concrete photocatalyst coatings by sol-gel method for building environmentally friendly building materials. This technology can remove nitrogen oxides in the air without affecting the properties of concrete and without the use of external energy. Since pure TiO₂ has limited utilization of sunlight, BiOI was introduced to prepare composite photocatalytic coating materials to increase the utilization of sunlight. In addition, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), specific surface area analyzer (BET) and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-VIS DRS) were used to characterize the microstructure, micro-morphology, specific surface area, and photo responsive properties of the photocatalytic coating materials. It was also loaded onto the concrete surface as a coating material to investigate the effects of different contents of BiOI, photocatalyst quality and NO concentration on the photocatalytic removal of NO by BiOI/TiO₂, with nitric oxide (NO) as the target pollutant.
XRD results showed that the BiOI/TiO₂ composite photocatalysts had a complete crystalline structure, and the introduction of BiOI did not affect the cellular structure of TiO₂, so that it maintained a better activity. SEM results showed that the BiOI and TiO₂ were more tightly bonded, which was conducive to the electron transport and enhanced the reaction activity. Specific surface area analysis showed that the introduction of BiOI effectively increased the specific surface area of the composite photocatalyst from 32.66 m²/g to 52.16 m²/g, compared with that of pure TiO₂, which exposed more active sites and facilitated the removal of nitrogen oxides. The results of UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy showed that after the introduction of BiOI, the absorption range of the composite photocatalysts for solar light was broadened to the visible light, and the absorption range of the solar spectrum was increased from 393 nm to 665 nm, and the bandgap energy was decreased from 3.21 eV to 2.02 eV. This indicated that the introduction of BiOI effectively improved the utilization of sunlight by the catalyst, which could still effectively remove NOx under visible light.
In order to further investigate the photocatalytic activity of BiOI/TiO₂ composite photocatalytic coating on NO, the effects of different BiOI doping amounts, BiOI/TiO₂ composite photocatalytic coating mass and NO concentration on the photocatalytic removal of NO by the composite photocatalytic coating were investigated, respectively. The results showed that the removal rate and the reaction rate constant of NO increased first and then decreased with the introduction of a larger mass of BiOI and reached the maximum at the molar amount of BiOI of 0.3, which was 62.35% and 1.101 min^-1, respectively. With the increase of the mass of the photocatalyst coating, its NO removal and reaction rate constant peaked at 4 g of the photocatalytic coating mass. When the NO concentration was 0.4 mg/L, the photocatalyst coating had a better removal effect on NO. The above experimental results of photocatalytic degradation of NO showed that when 0.4 mg/L of NO was photo catalytically treated with the 0.3-BiOI/TiO₂ photocatalytic coating containing 4 g, the maximum removal rate could reach 64.47%. In addition, the results of stability and durability tests showed that the BiOI/TiO₂ composite photocatalytic coating had excellent stability and good durability, and was capable of realizing long-term and efficient removal of NO. Finally, the UV-visible DRS and bandgap structures of TiO₂ and BiOI were measured, respectively, and the mechanism for photocatalytic removal of NO by the BiOI/TiO₂ composite photocatalytic coating was proposed.
In summary, this inorganic BiOI/TiO₂ photocatalytic concrete coating can effectively remove NO under visible light, which provides a prospective method for manufacturing environmentally friendly building materials.

Key words

photocatalyst / photocatalytic coating / concrete coating / titanium dioxide / halogenated oxides

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ZHANG Miao, LI Jingjing. Preparation and Performance Study of BiOI/TiO₂ Inorganic Photocatalytic Concrete Coatings[J]. Surface Technology. 2025, 54(22): 178-186 https://doi.org/10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.017

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