Researchers from the University of Twente in the Netherlands have launched a test of ‘air-purifying’ concrete.

Titanium dioxide in the bricks helps sunlight convert nitrogen oxides into “harmless nitrate”. When the rains come this then washes the bricks clear (press release). It’s not clear if the amount of nitrate being produced would be a pollution problem, as is the case with nitrates in agriculture.

The bricks are based on Japanese technology (possibly this tech) which has been further developed by the Twente researchers, says the university. One road in the town of Hengelo will be paved with the eco-bricks and another with normal bricks. The researchers will monitor pollution on both roads.

This isn’t the first set of air-scrubbing concrete out there. The idea has popped up in Italy, where it featured at the Venice Biennale.

Want to know more? Check out this paper from Belgian researcher Anne Beeldens: An environmental friendly solution for air purification and self-cleaning effect: the application of TIO2 as photocatalyst in concrete (PDF).

Image: U Twente