Airborne reactive oxygen species (ROS) is associated with nano TiO 2 concentrations in aerosolized cement particles during simulated work activities

Photocatalytic cement is self-cleaning due to the addition of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles, which react with sunlight (UV) and produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Construction workers using photocatalytic cement are exposed not only to cement particles that are irritants but also to nano TiO2 and UV, both carcinogens, as well as the generated ROS. Quantifying ROS generated from added nano TiO2 in photocatalytic cement is necessary to efficiently assess combined health risks. We designed and built an experimental setup to generate, under controlled environmental conditions (i.e., temperature, relative humidity, UV irradiance), both regular and photocatalytic cement aerosols. In addition, cement working activities—namely bag emptying and concrete cutting—were simulated in an exposure chamber while continuously measuring particle size distribution/concentration with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). ROS production was measured with a newly developed photonic sensing system based on a colorimetric assay. ROS production generated from the photocatalytic cement aerosol exposed to UV (3.3∙10−9 nmol/pt) was significantly higher than for regular cement aerosol, either UV-exposed (0.5∙10−9 nmol/pt) or not (1.1∙10−9 nmol/pt). Quantitatively, the level of photocatalytic activity measured for nano TiO2-containing cement aerosol was in good agreement with the one obtained with only nano TiO2 aerosol at similar experimental conditions of temperature and relative humidity (around 60%). As a consequence, we recommend that exposure reduction strategies, in addition to cement particle exposures, also consider nano TiO2 and in situ–generated ROS, in particular if the work is done in sunny environments.