TiO2-Based Nanostructures, Composites and Hybrid Photocatalysts

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental pollution and depletion of fossil fuels represent two crucial obstacles for the sustainable development of contemporary human society. It is becoming more and more imperative to accelerate the develompment of green technologies capable to control and reduce pollution growth. Hence, it can be easily foreseen that confronting these issues will engage increasing efforts and resources.

Among the research and development fields dealing with the mentioned issues, those employing photocatalysis are likely to grow in relevance and spread new applications and technologies. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is nowdays one of the most widely used photocatalytic materials due to its ability to oxidatively decompose organic pollutants, low cost, durability and corrosion resistance. It is employed in several applications in the energy and environmental fields, including, for example: hydrogen evolution, photoelectrochemical conversion, photodegradation of organic contaminants, air and water purification systems, sterilization and bacterial detoxification. TiO₂ also proved to be useful for other applications, such as gas sensing, bone implant fixation, drug delivery, etc.

Much effort is nowdays focusing on TiO₂ modifications enambling to extend the TiO₂ optical absorption toward the visible range (in order to operate effectively under natural sunlight irradiation) and to improve the spatial separation of photogenerated charges. To these aims, several TiO₂ doping strategies and TiO₂-based hybrid composites have been scrutinized. In these kind of studies, foundational knowledge of the basic physical and chemical properties of the involved materials/components involved is required, as well as exhaustive investigations of the targeted application.  

The aim of this Special Issue is to cover the main aspects of fundamental and applied research of TiO₂ and TiO₂-based materials and composites, such as (but not limited to) the following:

• Fundamental properties of TiO₂ nanostructures: electronic states, defects, structural properties, optical properties, etc.
• Synthesis of bulk TiO₂ crystals, TiO₂ nanoparticles and thin films  
• Modification of TiO₂ nanostructures through doping, including non-metal doping (e.g. nitrogen-doped TiO₂, fluorine-doped TiO₂, carbon-doped TiO₂, etc.) and metal doping (e.g. Fe/TiO₂, Cu/TiO₂, Au/TiO₂, Ag/TiO₂, Pd/TiO₂, Pt/TiO₂, etc.)
• Self-doped TiO₂ nanostructures: oxygen vacancies, black titania, etc.
• Composites and hybrid photocatalysts based on TiO₂ and carbon nanomaterials (e.g. TiO₂/graphene, TiO₂/graphene oxide, TiO₂/carbon nanotubes, TiO₂/g-C₃N₄, etc.) or on TiO₂  and inorganic materials (e.g. TiO₂/MoS₂ and other 2D transition metal dichalcogenides)
• Applications, including water remediation, degradation of dyes and/or farmaceuticals, CO₂ reduction, hydrogen evolution, fuels production, plasmonic photocatalysis, TiO₂-based composites in perovskite solar cells, gas sensors, biosensors and biomedical applications, etc.

It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.

Dr. Stefano Lettieri
Assoc. Prof. Michele Pavone
Guest Editors

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