Recent Progress on Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials for Photocatalytic Applications

Abstract

Environmental and energy problems have drawn much attention owing to rapid population growth and accelerated economic development. For instance, photocatalysis, "a green technology", plays an important role in solar-energy conversion owing to its potential to solve energy and environmental problems. Recently, many efforts have been devoted to improving visible-light photocatalytic activity by using titanium dioxide as a photocatalyst as a result of its wide range of applications in the energy and environment fields. However, fast charge recombination and an absorption edge in the UV range limit the photocatalytic efficiency of TiO under visible-light irradiation. Many investigations have been undertaken to overcome the limitations of TiO and, therefore, to enhance its photocatalytic activity under visible light. The present literature review focuses on different strategies used to promote the separation efficiency of electron-hole pairs and to shift the absorption edge of TiO to the visible region. Current synthesis techniques used to elaborate several nanostructures of TiO -based materials, recent progress in enhancing visible photocatalytic activity, and different photocatalysis applications will be discussed. On the basis of the studies reported in the literature, we believe that this review will help in the development of new strategies to improve the visible-light photocatalytic performance of TiO -based materials further.

From Synthesis to Applications: Copper Calcium Titanate (CCTO) and its Magnetic and Photocatalytic Properties

“…TiO 2 is acclaimed as a UV‐light photocatalytic. To enhance TiO 2 performance in visible light, many approaches investigate the doping of TiO 2 with metal transitions . While doping, a disordered structure could appear in TiO 2 , limiting the efficiency of this approach.…”

“…To enhance TiO 2 performance in visible light, many approaches investigate the doping of TiO 2 with metal transitions. [111][112][113] While doping, a disordered structure could appear in TiO 2 , limiting the efficiency of this approach. Perovskite structure ABO 3 has been investigated because A site is shared by two cations without causing a disordered lattice.…”

S‐Scheme Heterojunction TiO2/CdS Nanocomposite Nanofiber as H2‐Production Photocatalyst

“…Several studies showed that TiO 2 and TiO 2 ‐based materials have great application potential and inestimable value as photocatalysts . However, they still suffer from inferior solar light harvesting, low quantum efficiency (QE), low solar energy utilization, and rapid recombination of electron‐hole pairs …”

Surface Plasmon Resonance‐Enhanced Visible‐NIR‐Driven Photocatalytic and Photothermal Catalytic Performance by Ag/Mesoporous Black TiO2 Nanotube Heterojunctions

“…[1][2][3] Al arge number of poisonous and harmful compounds are released into the environment because of lack of effective methods fort reatingt hese pollutants. [4][5][6] Photocatalysis is ap otentialt echnology for solving environmental and energy problemsi ncluding degradation of pollutants, H 2 productionvia water splitting and dye-sensitized solar cell, and selective oxidation reactions. [7][8][9][10][11][12] However,t his strategy remains inefficient due to the challenge: difficultiesi ne nergy band configuration limit sunlight utilization to mainly within the ultraviolet and visible light region, resulting in near-infrared light (NIR, 54 %o fs olar radiation at the Earth's surface) unable to be harvested.…”