Advanced Nanoarchitectures for Solar Photocatalytic Applications

Advanced nanostructured materials that demonstrate useful activity under solar excitation in fields concerned with the elimination of pollutants, partial oxidation and the valorization of chemical compounds, water splitting and CO 2 reduction processes, are discussed. Point defects present in nanoparticulated anatase present both 5-fold- and 6-fold-coordinated titanium atoms, as well as 2-fold- and 3-fold-coordinated oxygens. The requirement of using sunlight as the excitation source for the degradation reaction demands, as a principal requirement, the modification of the electronic characteristics of a UV absorber system such as anatase-TiO 2. Some reports also indicate the need for large doping…