The Performance of a Self-Cleaning Glass Surface in Building Façades

Nowadays, the self-cleaning glasses are commonly used for outdoor and indoor applications. Providing self-cleaning properties to polymeric materials has become a pressing issue for a number of applications ranging from building materials to solar panel covers or domestic uses. Highly versatile multilayer polymeric/TiO2 composites with double self-cleaning properties implying both photo-oxidation and anti-sticking are here proposed. The hydrophobic side was obtained by synthesizing UV and thermal resistant sulfonated polyethersulfone (SPES) by a novel procedure involving the use of hydrophobic ionic liquids and controlling the morphology during deposition. On the other side, the photo-active selfcleaning titania obtained by an ad hoc procedure (developed to preserve the polymeric support features) maintains the material clean upon light exposure.

Keywords:

Self-cleaning glass , TiO2-coated glass , Transparent facades