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The physical and chemical interactions between the lime and pozzolans in conservation mortars are fundamental to sustainable building practices. Here, we report experimental investigations on pure air lime mortar, air lime-isparta tuff mortar, and air lime-banahmeta mortar. Isparta Tuff is formed from volcanic rocks found in the Southwest between Isparta and Burdur city centres in Anatolia, belonging to the Gölcük volcanism. The microstructural and physiochemical interactions of these mixed designs were investigated. Importantly, this study quantifies critical performance parameters of air lime mortars incorporating Isparta tuff as a pozzolan. It supports using local and natural volcanic tuffs in developing sustainable mortars for the conservation of historical assets in Turkey.

The MgO–CO2–H2O system have a variety of important industrial applications including in catalysis, immobilisation of radionuclides and heavy metals, construction, and mineralisation and permanent storage of anthropogenic CO2. Here, we develop a computational approach to generate phase stability plots for the MgO–CO2–H2O system that do not rely on traditional experimental corrections for the solid phases. We compare the predictions made by several dispersion-corrected density-functional theory schemes, and we include the temperature-dependent Gibbs free energy through the quasi-harmonic approximation. We locate the Artinite phase (Mg2CO3(OH)2·3H2O) within the MgO–CO2–H2O phase stability plot, and we demonstrate that this widely-overlooked hydrated and carbonated phase is metastable and can be stabilised by inhibiting the formation of fully-carbonated stable phases. Similar considerations may apply more broadly to other lesser known phases. These findings provide new insight to explain conflicting results from experimental studies, and demonstrate how this phase can potentially be stabilised by optimising the synthesis conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A blue light mediated photochemical process using solid graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in ambient air/isopropanol vapour is suggested to be linked to "nanophase" water inclusions and is shown to produce approx. 50 μmol H2O2 per gram of g-C3N4, which can be stored in the solid g-C3N4 for later release for applications, for example, in disinfection or anti-bacterial surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The MgO-CO 2 -H 2 O system have a variety of important industrial applications including in catalysis, immobilisation of radionuclides and heavy metals, construction, and mineralisation and permanent storage of anthropogenic CO 2 . Here, we develop a computational approach to generate phase stability plots for the MgO-CO 2 -H 2 O system that do not rely on traditional experimental corrections for the solid phases. We compare the predictions made by several dispersion-corrected density-functional theory schemes, and we include the temperature-dependent Gibbs free energy through the quasi-harmonic approximation. We locate the Artinite phase (Mg 2 CO 3 (OH) 2 ·3H 2 O) within the MgO-CO 2 -H 2 O phase stability plot, and we demonstrate that this widely-overlooked hydrated and carbonated phase is metastable and can be stabilised by inhibiting the formation of fully-carbonated stable phases. Similar considerations may apply more broadly to other lesser known phases. These findings provide new insight to explain conflicting results from experimental studies, and demonstrate how this phase can potentially be stabilised by optimising the synthesis conditions.

A blue light mediated photochemical process using solid graphitic carbon nitride (g-C 3 N 4 ) in ambient air/isopropanol vapour is suggested to be linked to "nanophase" water inclusions and is shown to produce approx. 50 μmol H 2 O 2 per gram of g-C 3 N 4 , which can be stored in the solid g-C 3 N 4 for later release for applications, for example, in disinfection or anti-bacterial surfaces.