Smart, photocatalytic and self-cleaning asphalt mixtures: a literature review

Abstract

Nowadays, there is increasing concern in transportation engineering about the use of techniques less harmful to the environment and also about road safety. Heterogeneous photocatalysis based on the application of semiconductor materials onto asphalt mixtures is a promising technology because it can mitigate air pollution and road accidents. The functionalized asphalt mixtures with photocatalytic capability can degrade pollutants, such as damaging gases and oil/grease adsorbed on their surface, from specific reactions triggered by sunlight photons, providing significant environmental and social benefits. In this article, a review of photocatalysis applied in asphalt mixtures is presented. The most important characteristics related to the functionalization of asphalt mixtures for photocatalytic applications and their corresponding characterization are presented, and the achieved main results are also discussed.