American students develop shingles which despoluem the air

There is much that air pollution is considered one of the major problems of society, especially in megacities and large cities, but little has been done to end this drama. A recent United Nations study showed that only 12% of the world's population breathes air quality, and that this is especially harmful in Asian countries.

To try to alleviate this problem, students at the University of California, Riverside in polo, are developing a roof that helps clean the air in lab tests, they coated clay tiles with titanium dioxide, a common compound found easily in various products, from paints to cosmetics wall.

The tiles were placed inside a Chamber that reproduces the atmospheric environment, built with wood, PVC and teflon tubes. The camera was connected to a source of nitrogen oxides and a device that reads the concentrations of the pollutant, formed when certain fuels are burned at high temperatures, for example by combustion in cars.

According to the sustainable planet, researchers used ultraviolet light to simulate sunlight, which activates the titanium dioxide and lets him break nitrogen oxides. The result is impressive: the shingles withdrew between 88% and 97% of the oxides of nitrogen.

According to the team of students, 21 tons of nitrogen oxides would be eliminated daily if one million roofs were coated with the mixture of titanium dioxide. They also calculated that it would cost only €3,6 ($ 11.1) to coat a midsize residential roof.

Currently, there are no other tiles on the market that help reduce pollution from nitrogen oxides. However, there are few data on allegations that they reduce pollution, explains the team of scientists.

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