Effect of Porosity On The Absorbed, Reemitted and Transmitted Light by A Geopolymer Metakaolin Base
Effect of Porosity On The Absorbed, Reemitted and Transmitted Light by A Geopolymer Metakaolin Base
Effect of Porosity On The Absorbed, Reemitted and Transmitted Light by A Geopolymer Metakaolin Base
Materials Letters
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / m a t l e t
Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N. Unidad Quertaro, Quertaro, Quertaro, C.P. 76230, Mexico
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicols de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacn, C.P. 58000, Mexico
c
Postdoctoral position at Centro de Investigaciones y de Estudios Avanzados del I.P.N. Unidad Quertaro, Quertaro, Quertaro, C.P. 76230, Mexico
d
Universidad de Guanajuato. Campus Celaya-Salvatierra, Celaya, Guanajuato, C.P. 38060, Mexico
e
Centro de Investigacin y Desarrollo Tecnolgico en Electroqumica, Parque Tecnolgico Quertaro-San Fandila, C.P. 76700, San Fandila, Pedro Escobedo, Quertaro, Mexico
f
Centro de Fsica Aplicada y Tecnologa Avanzada, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, A.P. 1-1010, Quertaro, Mexico
g
Instituto de Tecnologa de Materiales, Universidad Politcnica de Valencia. Camino de Vera, s/n. C.P. 46022, Valencia Spain
b
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 15 September 2010
Accepted 5 December 2010
Available online 10 December 2010
Keywords:
Geopolymer
Metakaolin
Optical properties
Aluminosilicate
Photoluminescent
a b s t r a c t
In the present paper, the optical characterization of a geopolymer synthesized at three different temperatures
(40, 60 and 90 C) is described. The results were correlated to the porosity fraction in order to obtain a
photoluminescent geopolymer.
A two-ux model was employed to relate the fraction of light absorbed, remitted and transmitted by a
representative layer of geopolymer. Porosity was measured by nitrogen adsorption and correlated with the
optical properties to determine the fraction of UV/Vis light transmitted through the samples. It was found that
the geopolymer synthesize temperature and the incident wavelength greatly affect the fraction of light
transmitted by the samples.
The UV/Vis spectrum was divided into three zones according to the observed behavior. In the rst zone, the
difference in transmission fraction was signicant; in the second zone, this difference decreased and
practically vanished at the third one.
Considering the highest transmission fraction at 90 C, a photoluminescent geopolymer with the strongest
emitting peak at 469 nm was synthesized.
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
In 1978 Davidovits [1] coined the term geopolymer to name the
amorphous aluminosilicates synthesized by chemical reaction between aluminosilicates and alkaline polisilicates. Principal raw
materials for geopolymer synthesis are y ash, slag or metakaolin;
each of one producing different compression strength in the nal
product [2,3]. Due to their physical properties, geopolymers have
received considerable attention from scientists [4]. Some of their
outstanding applications are in re protection [5], immobilization [6],
and radioactive and toxic waste encapsulation [7].
Recently, and despite the lack of optical previous characterization,
McKenzie [8] was successful in employing geopolymers as a color
change humidity indicator. UVVis studies have been carried out for
similar materials as aluminosilicates and zeolites [9,10], but no
characterizations has been carried out for geopolymers to further
investigate about their optical properties.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +52 442 211 99 18; fax: +52 442 211 99 38.
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.R. Gasca-Tirado).
0167-577X/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matlet.2010.12.003
Transmission, reection and absorption fraction of the geopolymers were calculated through Dahm's equation [11]. Scatter reectance for samples on black background and very thick samples were
measured by a Perkin Elmer Lambda 900 UV/Vis/NIR spectrophotometer in combination with a 60 mm integrating sphere.
Porosity and pore size distribution were measured by nitrogen
adsorption on a NOVA 2000e Quantachrome instruments employing
AR ; 0 = 1R = R :
2.4. Characterization
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Fig. 1. 60 C-Geopolymer absorption (dash-dot line), reection (dot line) and transmission fraction (solid line).
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Fig. 2. Transmission fraction for a 550 m sample of 90 C-geopolymer (dot line), 60 C-geopolymer (dash-dot-dot line) and 40 C-geopolymer (dash line).
100 m thick samples was 87%, and 22% for samples up to 600 m.
This suggests that the observed emission spectrum is produced in the
very rst 600 m outer layers. The necessary excitation lights,
determined by a method of measuring the band gap energy value of
a semiconductor [12], were 350, 460 and 503 nm; the rst one which
has a high transmission fraction, can be seen in Fig. 2 which in turn
ensures the excitation of the photoluminescent sites.
Finally, the photoluminescent geopolymer after sun exposure
(Fig. 3) shows that those optical properties are real and can be
expanded if applications are chosen to be performed at wavelengths
lower than 570 nm.
5. Conclusions
Optical properties of geopolymers change with the cured temperature. This variation is due to the pore fraction generated during the
synthesizing process. Macroporosity is the principal factor that modies
the amount of light transmitted through the sample, which in turn is
greatly affected by wavelengths lower than 570 nm and is practically
diminished beyond this. Optical applications of geopolymers must be
considered to have a great performance if they are used for ultraviolet
light or visible light under the 570 nm.
Table 1
Porosity fraction of geopolymers synthesized at 40, 60 and 90 C.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thanks to David Sols from CIO, A.C. for
his kind technical support.
References
[1] Davidovits J. Geopolymers - inorganic polymeric new materials. J Therm Anal Aug
1991;37(8):163356.
[2] Hardjito D, Wallah SE, Sumajouw DMJ, Rangan BV. On the development of y ashbased geopolymer concrete. ACI Mater J Nov-Dec 2004;101(6):46772.
[3] Wang HL, Li HH, Yan FY. Synthesis and mechanical properties of metakaolinitebased geopolymer. Colloids Surf Physicochemical Eng Aspects Oct 2005;268(13):
16.
[4] Duxson P, Fernandez-Jimenez A, Provis JL, et al. Geopolymer technology: the
current state of the art. J Mater Sci May 2007;42(9):291733.
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