ANNOUNCEMENT: Wednesday October 29, 2025 at 10:45hr-Waaier building _ Nathália Tavares Costa will defend her thesis on the topic:
Photocatalytically Active Coatings for Indoor Air Purification: From SrTiO3 Facet Engineering to Paint Applications
Nathália Tavares Costa is a PhD student in the Photocatalytic Synthesis group (Co)promotors are Prof.dr. Guido Mul, Dr.ir. J.M. Huijser and Dr.ir. G. Katsoukis - Department of Chemical Engineering - Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente.
Here is the summary of her thesis:
Nathália's research focused on developing and understanding photocatalytic materials for indoor air purification, particularly targeting the photooxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) employing acetone as probe molecule under UV lighting. She studied how crystal morphology and AI doping influence the performance of SrTiO3-based catalysts by combining in-situ DRIFS, TRPL, and Design of Experiments approaches.
These studies revealed how facet engineering and dopant effets steer intermediate formation and reaction selectivity, even under realistic humidity and light intensity conditions.
This work was part of ARC CBBC corsortium, and was conducted within a collaborative project between the Universit of Twente (PCS group), Utrecht University, and AkzoNobel.
Beyond the fundamental insights, one of the key aims was to apply these materials in functional paint systems for indoor air purification. The most promising catalysts were incorporated into coatings and tested under LED illunimation, mimicking real indoor environments with pollutant concentrations down to ppb levels.
