Development of Nano TiO2-Geopolymer Functional Composite as Antifouling Bricks

Abstract

The purpose of study is to examine the ability of nano TiO2-geopolymer functional composite as antifouling bricks. The samples were synthesized through alkali-Activation method at 70°C for 1 hour by mixing metaclay with TiO2 nanoparticles and activated with sodium silicate solution. There were two series of samples produced, namely, GT-A with addition of 2% nanoTiO2 and GT-B with addition of 4% nano TiO2 relative to the mass of metaclay. The samples were immersed in water and in 1M H2SO4 solution for 4 days to examine the resistance of composites in hars environment. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed to examine the chemical compositions of the samples before and after environmental test. The morphology of the samples surfaces was examined by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Based on this study, sample GT-A shows its excellent properties as antifouling bricks. The addition of nano TiO2 was found to improve the quality of geopolymers as a high performance bricks.