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The sustainable development of our societies demands strong efforts on scientific and technological research while informing and educating students and the general population. Air pollution and road safety hazards constitute two main public health problems that are insufficiently addressed pedagogically. With this work, we aim to contribute to tackeling the problem by presenting the results of scientific research on the development of photocatalytic, superhydrophobic, and self-cleaning recycled asphalt mixtures to achieve an eco-social friendly and smart material able to mitigate socioenvironmental impacts. The functionalization of asphalt is implemented by spraying particles’ solutions over a conventional AC 10, then evaluated by dye degradation and wettability. Firstly, different particles’ solutions (with nano-TiO2 and/or micro-PTFE under water, ethyl alcohol, and dimethyl ketone) were sprayed to select the best solution (BS), which was composed of TiO2-PTFE (4 g/L each) in ethyl alcohol. Two successive spraying coatings (diluted epoxy resin and BS) were performed over conventional and recycled AC 10 (with reclaimed asphalt pavement and steel slags). Their efficiency decreases with the highest resin amounts. The best results were obtained with 0.25 g resin and BS. For the lowest resin amount, all mixtures achieved superhydrophobicity and performed similarly regarding wettability.

Aging by oxidation of asphalt roadway material promotes changes in its physical, chemical, and rheological properties, affecting its hardening and accelerating the degradation of its corresponding asphalt mixture. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been applied in engineering investigations to promote anti-aging and photocatalytic properties. In this study, a commercial binder was modified with nano-TiO2 (using contents of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 6%). It was evaluated by physicochemical and rheological tests (penetration, softening point, mass loss, dynamic viscosity, rheology, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy—FTIR) before and after aging by rolling thin-film oven test (RTFOT) and pressure aging vessel (PAV). The results indicated that incorporating nano-TiO2 mitigates binder aging, pointing out 0.25% as an optimum modification content for the investigated asphalt binder.

The pollution caused by oil and its toxic derivatives presents a considerable risk to the public health and the environment. This work is devoted to the study of the influence of TiO 2 nanoparticles immobilized on three types of textiles materials (Cotton, Entretela, and Polylactic Acid-PLA) coated with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) to be used for degradation of crude petroleum under simulated solar irradiation. The morphological studies of the functionalized textiles substrates were performed by using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy, which indicated an excellent dispersion and adhesion of nanoparticles of about 60% (atomic %Ti) on the textile fibers covered with RGO after washing. Ultraviolet-visible Diffuse Reflectance spectra suggest a reduction in the band gap energy of TiO 2 up to 2.86 eV due to the presence of RGO. The functionalized textiles presented at least 60% of photocatalytic efficiency measured by Rhodamine B degradation, decreasing less than 12% after the rigorous washing. The excitation/emission Synchronous Fluorescence Spectroscopy and Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopies demonstrated a great potential for photocatalytic degradation of the functionalized textiles substrates as the appearance of the hydroxyl, carboxyl, and the C-O bands confirm the photoinduced oxidation of the organic compounds implying with high prospects in petroleum and wastewater treatment areas. Moreover, this environmentally friendly, sustainable, and inclusive research work can be

The functionalization of asphalt mixtures is carried out in order to provide new capabilities to the road pavements, with major social, environmental and financial benefits. Optical characterization techniques as well as optical processes like photocatalysis play a major role in the development of new asphalt mixtures with smart functions. These advanced capabilities which are being developed in asphalt mixtures are: photocatalytic, superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, de-icing/anti-ice, self-healing, thermochromic, and latent heat thermal energy storage. The main objective of this research work is to stress the importance of optics and photonics technologies giving an overview of advanced functionalized smart asphalt mixtures.