Photocatalysis has been applied for a variety of applications ranging from anti‐fogging, anti‐microbial and self‐cleaning surfaces, through to water and air purification, and solar induced hydrogen production.
The department’s area of expertise is in the development of photocatalytic surfaces, using a number of different surface engineering technologies. The nano coatings developed are based on TiO2 combined with metals and dyes intended to decrease the band gap and render the material photocatalytic to both UV and visible light.
The department is presently leading a 2.5M€ Interreg Italia-Malta project seeking to develop micro photocatalytic treatment units that could be used by SMEs and dwellings. Six institutions and a large number of researchers are actively involved including researchers reading for a PhD registered with the UM.
Recycling water at the point of using TiO2 powders can be very energy efficient but can pose significant environmental risk. For this reason, the active materials must be self-contained in the form of a coating or a surface. The surface modification of titanium metal into semiconductive oxides provides a very stable self-contained photocatalytic medium which can be designed to obtain the required balance between performance and longevity.
The long-term storage of water in residential buildings is not without risks. Many airborne organisms will colonise this storage and proliferate to reach dangerous concentrations in a matter of days. A potential solution for this problem is to coat UV transparent glass with semiconductive ceramic films which can harness blue light and UV to keep these organisms at bay.
