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A dual role on cleaning and healing of foreign agents for sustainable smart buildings using nano-TiO2

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Abstract

Cracks incessantly act as a precursor on the surface of the structure, which facilitates the ingress of water and other foreign agents. Such activities would deteriorate the functionality and reduce the lifetime of the building. In this regard, an attempt was made to clean (self-cleaning) and heal the cracks by itself (self-healing). The mechanism involved in the proposed study was autogenous healing. Nano-titanium dioxide was used as a healing agent, and the properties were compared with the conventional admixture at a recovery period of 14, 28, and 56 days, respectively. Nano-TiO2 was partially replaced with cement by various dosages viz., 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 wt.%, respectively. Self-cleaning was analyzed through photocatalytic activity, phase composition and BET analysis. Similarly, the properties of the healed samples were tested against physiomechanical properties including air content, bulk density, compressive strength, and durability aspects of water absorption–immersion, sorptivity, permeability, and seepage flow. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) are the microstructural studies. Performance of the healed samples was examined through crack width, and healing degree. Nano-TiO2 particles accelerate the self-healing ability with a reduction in crack width by 13–36%. The ingress of water by sorptivity was reduced from 25 to 6.5%. The efficiency of permeability reduction was achieved by 19–37%. The potential of the research will elevate the life span of the structure as well saves the time and manpower owing for maintenance and repair.

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Acknowledgment

The authors are thankful to the Department of Civil Engineering, PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research for providing the necessary laboratory facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research, Coimbatore, 641062, India

    Arun Murugesan, Abdul Aleem Mohamed Ismail & Deepasree Srinivasan

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Vaigai College of Engineering, Madurai, 625122, India

    V. Venkatraman

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  1. Arun Murugesan
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  2. V. Venkatraman
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  3. Abdul Aleem Mohamed Ismail
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  4. Deepasree Srinivasan
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Contributions

AM contributed to formal analysis and data curation. VV contributed to data curation, and writing—original draft. AAMIS contributed to experimental investigation, results and discussion, and editing the draft. DS contributed to conceptualization, methodology, and writing—original draft.

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Correspondence to Deepasree Srinivasan.

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Murugesan, A., Venkatraman, V., Ismail, A.A.M. et al. A dual role on cleaning and healing of foreign agents for sustainable smart buildings using nano-TiO2. Innov. Infrastruct. Solut. 8, 182 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41062-023-01152-3

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