TY - JOUR

T1 - Visible-light activation of TiO2 photocatalysts: Advances in theory and experiments

AU - Etacheri, V.

AU - Di Valentin, C.

AU - Schneider, J.

AU - Bahnemann, D.

AU - Pillai, S.C.

N1 - Funding information: The authors would like to thank Enterprise Ireland for funding ( CFTD/06/IT/326 and ARE/2008/0005 ). SP wish to acknowledge financial support under the U. S.–Ireland R&D Partnership programme from the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI-Grant Number 10/US/I1822(T) ). One of the authors VE would also like to thank Dr. Michael Seery for providing valuable comments during his PhD. CDV thanks Gianfranco Pacchioni and Annabella Selloni for many helpful discussions and Cariplo foundation for an Advanced Materials Grant 2013-0615 . JS gratefully acknowledges financial support from the German Ministry of Science and Technology (BMBF), Grant Number 03SF0482C (Duale Solarenergienutzung: Wasserstofferzeugung bei der Abwasserreinigung, DuaSol). Prof. Suresh C. Pillai was born in Karukachal, Kottayam, Kerala, India. He has completed his BSc and MSc (with first rank) from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Suresh has obtained his PhD in the area of Nanotechnology from Trinity College (TCD), The University of Dublin, Ireland and then performed a postdoctoral research at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), USA. He has then worked at CREST in DIT as a senior scientist responsible for nanotechnology research before moving to Institute of Technology Sligo as a senior lecturer in environmental nanotechnology. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (FRMS) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM). He is responsible for acquiring more than €3 million direct R&D funding. Prof. Pillai is a recipient of a number of awards for research accomplishments including the ‘Industrial Technologies Award 2011’ from Enterprise Ireland for commercialising nanomaterials for industrial applications. He was also the recipient of the ‘Hothouse Commercialisation Award 2009’ from the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation and also the recipient of the ‘Enterprise Ireland Research Commercialization Award 2009’. He has also been nominated for the ‘One to Watch’ award 2009 for commercialising R&D work (Enterprise Ireland). One of the nanomaterials based environmental technologies developed by his research team was selected to demonstrate as one of the fifty ‘innovative technologies’ (selected after screening over 450 nominations from EU) at the first Innovation Convention organised by the European Commission on 5–6th December 2011. He is the national delegate and technical expert for ISO standardization committee and European standardization (CEN) committee on photocatalytic materials.

PY - 2015/12

Y1 - 2015/12

N2 - The remarkable achievement by Fujishima and Honda (1972) in the photo-electrochemical water splitting results in the extensive use of TiO 2 nanomaterials for environmental purification and energy storage/conversion applications. Though there are many advantages for the TiO 2 compared to other semiconductor photocatalysts, its band gap of 3.2eV restrains application to the UV-region of the electromagnetic spectrum (λ≤387.5nm). As a result, development of visible-light active titanium dioxide is one of the key challenges in the field of semiconductor photocatalysis. In this review, advances in the strategies for the visible light activation, origin of visible-light activity, and electronic structure of various visible-light active TiO 2 photocatalysts are discussed in detail. It has also been shown that if appropriate models are used, the theoretical insights can successfully be employed to develop novel catalysts to enhance the photocatalytic performance in the visible region. Recent developments in theory and experiments in visible-light induced water splitting, degradation of environmental pollutants, water and air purification and antibacterial applications are also reviewed. Various strategies to identify appropriate dopants for improved visible-light absorption and electron-hole separation to enhance the photocatalytic activity are discussed in detail, and a number of recommendations are also presented.

AB - The remarkable achievement by Fujishima and Honda (1972) in the photo-electrochemical water splitting results in the extensive use of TiO 2 nanomaterials for environmental purification and energy storage/conversion applications. Though there are many advantages for the TiO 2 compared to other semiconductor photocatalysts, its band gap of 3.2eV restrains application to the UV-region of the electromagnetic spectrum (λ≤387.5nm). As a result, development of visible-light active titanium dioxide is one of the key challenges in the field of semiconductor photocatalysis. In this review, advances in the strategies for the visible light activation, origin of visible-light activity, and electronic structure of various visible-light active TiO 2 photocatalysts are discussed in detail. It has also been shown that if appropriate models are used, the theoretical insights can successfully be employed to develop novel catalysts to enhance the photocatalytic performance in the visible region. Recent developments in theory and experiments in visible-light induced water splitting, degradation of environmental pollutants, water and air purification and antibacterial applications are also reviewed. Various strategies to identify appropriate dopants for improved visible-light absorption and electron-hole separation to enhance the photocatalytic activity are discussed in detail, and a number of recommendations are also presented.

KW - Air pollution

KW - Doping

KW - Energy and environmental

KW - Fundamentals

KW - Graphene

KW - Hydrogen production

KW - Mechanism

KW - Photo-induced reactions

KW - Photovoltaic

KW - Solar energy

KW - Sustainable

KW - Tutorial review

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943244445&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jphotochemrev.2015.08.003

DO - 10.1016/j.jphotochemrev.2015.08.003

M3 - Article

VL - 25

SP - 1

EP - 29

JO - Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews

JF - Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology C: Photochemistry Reviews

SN - 1389-5567

ER -