Dr. Igor Lapiro
Project Overview: Corrosion of steel reinforcement induced by chloride ingress constitutes the most significant threat to the durability and service life of concrete infrastructure in marine and coastal environments. Existing protection strategies, such as conventional impressed current cathodic protection , entail high installation and maintenance costs and rely on external power sources.
The ongoing research, led by Dr. Igor Lapiro, presents an innovative and sustainable approach to addressing this challenge: the development of a smart hybrid cementitious matrix that transforms concrete from a passive structural material into an active, autonomous protection system.
This novel technology is based on the synergistic integration of advanced photocatalytic nanomaterials within an internal carbon-based conductive network. Upon exposure to solar radiation (UV), the system efficiently generates and directs electrical charges to the embedded steel reinforcement.
This process establishes an active electrostatic barrier that repels aggressive chloride ions and mitigates corrosion initiation, entirely independent of external energy sources.
