All combustion reactions produce nitrogen oxide emissions (NOx) through the reaction of nitrogen and oxygen in the ambient air. A significant source of these emissions is the combustion of fuels in road traffic. The nitrogen oxides emitted have a negative impact on the environment and the health of humans and animals. To reduce the level of nitrogen oxides in the air, they can be converted into less harmful nitrate (NO3-) by a photocatalytic reaction, for example. Photocatalysis is a mechanism in which a substance (“catalyst”) is stimulated by light (“photo”) to initiate or accelerate a chemical reaction. One possible photocatalyst for the conversion of nitrogen oxides is titanium dioxide (TiO2) in the anatase modification. There are various ways of producing photocatalytically active TiO2 coatings. In conventional paint and coating systems, anatase is used in the form of scattered particles. As part of the Carl-Zeiss Foundation-funded project “Functionalization of smart materials under multi-field requirements for transport infrastructure”, a coating based on geopolymers was developed. For this purpose, a TiO2-doped synthetic aluminum silicate was manufactured as a raw material. By chemically activating this material, it was possible to produce a new type of coating in which the TiO2 is chemically bound. To test the material's phothalocatalytic activity, mortar panels were coated with it and examined using a self-developed NOx measuring stand. The developed coating system and the NOx measuring stand will be exhibited at the Hannover Messe 2025.
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