Resumo/Summary:The goal of NanoAir research project comprises the development of innovative road pavements with multifunctional ability, that is, pavements that clean up the surrounding air (e.g. NOx and/or SOx gases, which occur with special relevance in areas with high density of urban mesh) and also presenting the ability to promote the photodegradation of organic compounds (oils and greases) adsorbed to its surface, cleaning it and avoiding the reduction of friction caused by these compounds (causing serious road accidents).
Among the most relevant abilities are the photocatalytic, superhydrophobic/ superhydrophilic and self-cleaning. These abilities can be achieved by applying different semiconductor materials (e.g. titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide which use sunlight to promote photodegradation of polluting agents) at the nano/micrometric scale, using dissimilar functionalization techniques.
Due to the huge surface area of road pavements and their physical vicinity to the vehicle exhaust gases or the gases released by large ships (cruise or cargo) in the neighbourhood of seaports, photocatalytic pavements (obtained by incorporating semiconductor materials) appear as important structures to catalyse environmental depollution processes, thus fulfilling the commitment embodied in the “European Green Deal”.
Moreover, smart and multifunctional road pavements can be included in the domain of a Clean Technology (for example, photocatalytic pavements having the ability to promote the environmental depollution of NOx-type gases emitted as vehicle exhaust gases) and, in this context, they can contribute to materialize the transition to a new socio-economic model that is environmentally friendly, sustainable and inclusive, known as "Green Recovery" – a very important path towards economic and employment recovery, a vision to which Portugal is strongly committed.