A new generation of smart building materials, able to passively improve the indoor environment and the comfort of occupants owing to their interaction with the surrounding environment, can be addressed. This paper investigates the use of three highly porous aggregates to manufacture hydraulic lime-based multifunctional mortars to be used as indoor finishes. The same water/binder ratio was used for each mortar mix, and conventional calcareous sand was totally replaced by volume with zeolite, silica gel, and activated carbon. Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO₂) was added to award a photocatalytic behavior under UV radiation to the mortars. Results show that, as expected, when highly porous aggregates are used, mortars absorb more water by capillary suction. However, even though the mortars manufactured with lightweight aggregates have a lower density, the mechanical behavior of zeolite and activated carbon mortars is comparable or even higher than that of sand mortars, thanks to an optimum interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between the binder paste and the aggregate. The photocatalytic activity, in terms of photocatalytic NO_x degradation efficiency and selectivity of unwanted produced NO₂, results to be optimal when silica gel-based mortar is tested. Additionally, the thermal-insulation properties are enhanced up to 40% by using all the unconventional aggregates.

可以解决的新一代智能建筑材料能够被动改善室内环境，并由于与周围环境的相互作用而使居住者感到舒适。本文研究了三种高孔隙率骨料在制造水硬性石灰基多功能砂浆中用作室内饰面的作用。每种砂浆混合物使用相同的水/粘合剂比，并且用沸石，硅胶和活性炭完全取代常规钙质砂的体积。纳米二氧化钛（TiO ₂加入）以授予砂浆在紫外线辐射下的光催化性能。结果表明，正如预期的那样，当使用高度多孔的骨料时，砂浆会通过毛细管抽吸吸收更多的水。但是，即使使用轻质骨料制造的砂浆的密度较低，但由于粘合剂和涂料之间的最佳界面过渡区（ITZ），沸石和活性炭砂浆的机械性能与砂浆相当甚至更高。总计。就光催化NO _x的降解效率和有害的NO _2的选择性而言，光催化活性，当测试基于硅胶的砂浆时，结果是最佳的。此外，通过使用所有非常规的骨料，隔热性能提高了40％。