Numerous kinds of photocatalysts such as oxide-, nitride-or sulfide-based semiconductors, conducting polymers or graphene oxide based materials have emerged since the discovery of water splitting on TiO electrodes in . Yet, metal-oxides are still largely the main family of materials promoted into photocatalytic applications.In this chapter, we focus on the application of supported nanostructures of metal oxides, principally TiO and ZnO, for the heterogeneous photocatalysis. We emphasize the benefits of increasing the specific surface area by using the direct growth of metal-oxide nanostructures onto porous templates. "mong the numerous strategies to improve the photocatalytic activity, we detail the fabrication of semiconductor metal-oxide heterostructures promoting the charge separation under UV irradiation. We also describe how the use of plasmonic nanostructures allows the shifting of the light absorption in the visible range. Finally, we give an overview on the new strategies to increase the photocatalytic activity with new architectures and materials based on metal-oxides.
Sequential vapor infiltration synthesis (SVIS) within block-copolymer templates has emerged as an attractive means for the controlled formation of metal oxide nanoarrays on arbitrary substrates. This approach takes advantage of the molecular-level controls that are inherent in the production of the template and the exposure tools that are available for the vapor-phase growth of materials. To take adequate advantage of these controls and their dependencies on any environmental factors, it is essential to understand the mechanisms that govern nanostructure morphology at different stages of the growth process. To this end, this work correlates the evolution of the internal structure with the chemical functionality of block-copolymer templates in response to different conditions of exposure to volatile titania precursors. The evolution is followed by mapping structural and functional information at lateral and vertical resolutions down to a few nanometers through a combination of electron microscopies [scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cross sections], X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS).
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