Study On Preparation And Functionalization Of Self-cleaning Glass

Functional glass is an extensively applied new-style material. With the large-scale application of glass in traffic and buildings and the increasing environmental problems in the world, the cleaning problems of glass have become prominent increasingly. To find highly-efficient self-cleaning glass has become the focus and nodus of scientific research all over the world.Environmental purification using TiO2 photocatalysts has attracted much attention. At present, the mainly studied self-cleaning glass is covered with a film of TiO2 about 40nm. With the interacting between the film and sunlight, the feculency on the surface of the glass is broken up. Whereas, the photochemical catalysis of the glass is only limited to surface, and the abradability and perdurability of the glass is poor.In this paper, a self-cleaning glass was prepared using the mixture of nano-TiO2 and silicate glass raw materials by high temperature melting method in Si-Mo furnace. The glass had a characteristic of self-cleaning from inside to outside. The microstructure of the self-cleaning glass was studied with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Spectrum Analysis (EDS). The antibacterial performance was studied by inhibition ring test and shake flask test. And the photocatalytic property was studied. The effects of parameters on the quality of products were also discussed, such as nano-TiO2 content, preparation temperature and soaking time.(1) SEM results showed that nano-TiO2 is distributed evenly in glass.(2) Inhibition ring test and shake flask test results showed that this glass had good antibacterial properties which increases with increasing addition of nano-TiO2, and finally the antibacterial properties flatten out to give a sterilization rate up to 94.6%.(3) The photocatalysis results showed that photocatalysis degradation rate of methylene blue could reach 54.22% in 120min of self-cleaning glass with 25% of TiO2 under UV light.The photo-catalytic property of titanium dioxide is activated only when it is exposed in the UV light;moreover,only 5% of solar spectrum is used. In order to avoid this defects,a silver-doped titanium dioxide composite materials was made. Its structure and properties were studied. We found that Ag-doped on TiO2 was beneficial to particle refining, improving catalytic activity and antibacterial activity of TiO2. These composite materials were blended into silicate glass raw materials by melt blending to get Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass. The structures of Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass were studied by SEM, EDS, XRD and FT-IR. And on the base of this study, photocatalytic activity and antibacterial performance of Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass were discussed. The results are as follows: (1) The diameter of Ag-doped TiO2 composite particle was about 50-80nm, and that of composite particle in Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass was about 100-200nm.(2) Ag-doping had no effects on the basic structure of TiO2, but there are some silver diffraction peaks in composite materials powder in XRD patterns. The main form of Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass was still amorphous, and the formation of Ti-O-Si bond in this glass indicated that the functional materials had entered the internal structure of the glass.(3) The photocatalysis degradation rate of methylene blue under UV light reached 50.59% in 120 min of self-cleaning glass with 10% of Ag/TiO2. This value was greater than 40.90%, the photocatalysis degradation rate of methylene blue of self-cleaning glass with 12.5% of TiO2.(4) Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass had good antibacterial performance against E.coli (ATCC8099) and S.aureus (ATCC6538) with the inhibition ring whose diameter was greater than the standard value (7mm). Moreover, the antibacterial performance against S.aureus was better. The inhibition ring diameter of Ag/TiO2 self-cleaning glass with 10% of Ag/TiO2 against E.coli was 10.43mm, while against S.aureus was 12.38mm.