Titania: From laboratory synthesis to technological applications

The improvement and the optimization of TiO₂ as photocatalysts and catalysts is most important for future technical applications. For photocatalytic applications, a hollistic approach has encompassed preparing novel photocatalysts, characterizing their physicochemical properties and studying their photocatalytic performance. The studied photocatalysts include Ag/TiO₂, Pt/TiO₂, Au/TiO₂, and a magnetic photocatalyst consisting of an insulated iron oxide core and a photoactive TiO₂ shell. The studied photocatalytic degradation reactions were those of phenol, sucrose, salicylic acid, endosulfan, resorcinol, estrogens, and dichloroacetic acid. The photocatalytic deactivation of E. coli was also examined. The study also resulted in Se/TiO₂ and CdSe/TiO₂ systems with potential applications in solar cells.