Nanotechnology seems to hold the key that allows construction and building materials to replicate the features of natural systems improved until perfection during millions of years. This paper reviews current knowledge about nanotechnology and nanomaterials used by the construction industry. It covers the nanoscale analysis of Portland cement hydration products, the use of nanoparticles to incr...

The influence of hydrothermal synthesis, thermal post-treatment at 500 °C and Mo content on a series of Bi1-x/3V1-xMoxO4 (0.02 < x < 0.15) photocatalysts was investigated for methylene blue (MB) degradation and O2 evolution. As Mo incorporation stabilizes the formation of tetragonal BiVO4 phases, only calcined Bi0.99V0.98Mo0.02O4 compounds showed good photocatalytic performance in MB decomposit...

Au-TiO2 snowman-like heterodimer nanoparticles were prepared by a surface sol-gel process based on gold Janus nanoparticles whose surface-protecting monolayers consisted of a hemisphere of hydrophobic 1-hexanethiolates and the other of hydrophilic 2-(2-mercaptoethoxy)ethanol. Transmission electron microscopic measurements showed that the resulting TiO2 nanoparticles (diameter 6 nm) exhibited we...

In this study, for the first time, {111} facet exposed anatase TiO2 single crystals are prepared via both F− and ammonia as the capping reagents. In comparison with the most investigated {001}, {010}, and {101} facets for anatase TiO2, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations predict that {111} facet owns a much higher surface energy of 1.61 J/m, which is partially attributed to the lar...

Semiconductor research has demonstrated the main application in areas such as hydrogen production through photocatalytic water splitting [1], dye sensitized solar cells [2] and photocatalytic treatment of harmful organics from air and water [3]. Developing of efficient visible light responsive photocatalysts for environmental remediation has become the main area in photocatalysis research becau...

Pure ZnO and Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles are synthesized via Co-precipitation method using Zinc acetate dehydrate Zn (CH3COO)2. 2H2O, Strontium acetate Sr (CH3COO)2, as source materials. The influence of Sr dopants contents on the morphology, absorption, emission, and photocatalytic activity of ZnO synthesized nanoparticles was investigated systematically. The photocatalytic activity of pure and...

A new photocatalyst, known as nitrogen-doped TiO2 (TiO2-xNx), yielding high reactivity under visible light irradiation, together with high potential for mass-productivity, has been developed by using a highly time-efficient development technique that combines computational materials design with experimental syntheses. Under visible light irradiation, TiO2-xNx films and powders exhibit significa...