TiO2 exists naturally in three crystalline forms: anatase, rutile, brookite, and TiO2 (B). These polymorphs exhibit different properties and consequently different photocatalytic performances. This paper aims to clarify the differences between titanium dioxide polymorphs, and the differences in homophase, biphase, and triphase properties in various photocatalytic applications. However, homophase TiO2 has various disadvantages such as high recombination rates and low adsorption capacity. Meanwhile, TiO2 heterophase can effectively stimulate electron transfer from one phase to another causing superior photocatalytic performance. Various studies have reported the biphase of polymorph TiO2 such as anatase/rutile, anatase/brookite, rutile/brookite, and anatase/TiO2 (B). In addition, this paper also presents the triphase of the TiO2 polymorph. This review is mainly focused on information regarding the heterophase of the TiO2 polymorph, fabrication of heterophase synthesis, and its application as a photocatalyst.

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TiO2 material is composited with silica obtained from natural sand with indirect sonochemistry method. The addition of SiO2 increase the photocatalyst activity of TiO2 as an antibacterial against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa.

Heavy metals are non-biodegradable and have a high toxicity effect on microorganisms which makes their presence in the environment extremely dangerous. The method of handling heavy metal waste by photocatalysis techniques using TiO2/SiO2 composite showed a good performance in reducing harmful pollutants. In this study, SiO2 from Bengkulu beach sand, Indonesia, was used as a support material for TiO2 photocatalyst to remove Cr(VI) and Pb(II). SiO2 was obtained through leaching techniques using NaOH as a solvent. The TiO2/SiO2 composite photocatalyst was synthesized using a solvothermal method at 130 °C and then characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a particle size analyzer (PSA). Based on the XRD diffractogram, the synthesized TiO2 showed the anatase structure while the SiO2 showed the amorphous structure. The Ti–O–Si bond is defined in the infrared (IR) spectra, which indicates that the relationship between TiO2 and SiO2 is a chemical interaction. The results of SEM and PSA characterizations show agglomerated spherical (round) particles with a mean particle size of 616.9 nm. The TiO2/SiO2 composite of 7:1 ratio showed the highest photocatalytic activity after 180 min of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, with a concentration-decrease percentage of 93.77% and 93.55% for Cr(VI) and Pb(II), respectively.

The danger from the content of dyes produced by textile-industry waste can cause environmental degradation when not appropriately treated. However, existing waste-treatment methods have not been effective in degrading dyes in textile waste. Zero-valent iron (ZVI), which has been widely used for wastewater treatment, needs to be developed to acquire effective green production. Tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves contain many polyphenolic compounds used as natural reducing agents. Therefore, this study aims to synthesize ZVI using biological reducing agents from tea-leaf extract and apply the Fenton method to degrade the color mixture of rhodamine B and methyl orange. The results show that the highest polyphenols were obtained from tea extract by heating to 90 °C for 80 min. Furthermore, PSA results show that ZVI had a homogeneous size of iron and tea extract at a volume ratio of 1:3. The SEM-EDS results show that all samples had agglomerated particles. The ZVI 1:1 showed the best results, with a 100% decrease in the color intensity of the dye mixture for 60 min of reaction and a degradation percentage of 100% and 66.47% for rhodamine B and methyl orange from LC-MS analysis, respectively. Finally, the decrease in COD value by ZVI was 92.11%, higher than the 47.36% decrease obtained using Fe(II).

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been widely applied as a photocatalyst for wastewater treatment due to its high photocatalytic activity and it can remove various harmful organic pollutants effectively. Under heated system, however, TiO2 is prone to agglomeration that decrease its abilities as a photocatalyst. In order to overcome the agglomeration and increase its thermal resistance, addition of silica (SiO2) as supporting material is proposed in this research. Silica or silicon dioxide can be extracted from natural resources such as beach sand. Here, we report the application of a composite photocatalyst of TiO2/SiO2 to remove phenolic compounds in wastewater. The photocatalyst was synthesized by adding SiO2 from beach sand onto TiO2 through impregnation methods. The results of the X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that TiO2 was present in the anatase phase. The highest crystallinity was obtained by TiO2/SiO2 ratios of 7:1. SEM results showed that the shape of the particles was spherical. Further characterizations were conducted using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis, and a particle size analyzer (PSA). By using the optimized condition, 96.05% phenol was degraded by the synthesized photocatalyst of TiO2/SiO2, under UV irradiation for 120 min. The efficiency of the TiO2/SiO2 is 3.5 times better than commercial TiO2 P25 for the Langmuir–Hinshelwood first-order kinetic model.

Heavy metals are non-biodegradable and have a high toxicity effect to living things which makes their presence in the environment extremely dangerous. The method of handling heavy metals waste by photocatalysis techniques using TiO2/SiO2 composite showed a good performance in reducing harmful pollutants. In this study, SiO2 from Bengkulu beach sand was used as a support material for TiO2 photocatalyst to reduce Cr(VI) and Pb(II) concentrations. SiO2 was obtained through leaching techniques using NaOH as a solvent. The TiO2/SiO2 composite photocatalyst were synthesized using a solvothermal method at 130 °C and then characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM and PSA. Based on the XRD diffractogram, the synthesized TiO2 showed the anatase structure while the SiO2 showed the amorphous structure. Ti-O-Si bond is defined in the IR spectra, which indicates that the relationship between TiO2 and SiO2 is a chemical interaction. The results of SEM and PSA characterizations show agglomerated spherical (round) particles with a mean particle size of 616.9 nm. The TiO2/SiO2 composite of 7:1 ratio showed the highest photocatalytic activity after 180 minutes of UV irradiation, with a concentration-decrease percentage of 93.77% and 93.55% for for Cr(VI) and Pb(II), respectively.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) has been widely used in biomedical applications. HA is prepared from natural sources of eggshell. The obtained HA is composited with TiO2 using the hydrothermal method at a temperature of 230 °C. The structure and morphology of HA-TiO2 composites are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Meanwhile, its antibacterial activity was tested on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria. The formation of the HA-TiO2 composite is evidenced by typical peaks on the XRD pattern for HA and TiO2. The FTIR spectrum shows that no bond formed between TiO2 and HA which indicates the formation of composites. The smallest crystallite size and the highest specific surface area were obtained from the composite with the composition of HA-TiO2 30:70. In addition, the composition of the composite also shows the smallest particle size distribution. Therefore, the presence of TiO2 plays a significant role in determining the HA properties formed. Furthermore, the HA-TiO2 composite showed good antibacterial activity using disk diffusion and optical density (OD) methods. These results indicate that the synergistic combination of HA from eggshell with TiO2 has favorable properties for antibacterial activity.