Chapter 6
Phase Control of TiO 2 Photocatalyst
6.1 Introduction
In recent years, the environmental pollution and energy exhaustion problems are
attracting more and more attention of mankind on a global scale. Due to the increase
of population and industrial growth, the energy consumption has been accelerating,
and a large amount of toxic agents and industrial wastes have been released into the
air and waterways, leading to energy crisis, global warming, and pollution-related
diseases. Thus, nowadays most scientists face the major challenges to develop the
environmentally harmonious, ecologically clean, safe, and sustainable chemical
technologies, materials, and processes for addressing energy as well as pollution
and climatic change.
Although many different kinds of approaches to solve these issues exist, ever
since Honda and Fujishima [1] found that TiO 2 photoelectrode could induce cleavage of water into H 2 and O 2 under the irradiation of ultraviolet light, there has been
enormous increasing interest in the use of TiO 2 as well as other extended oxide and
chalcogenide semiconductors. The organic toxic materials at low concentrations are
photocatalytically converted to harmless oxidation products such as CO 2 and H 2 O,
achieving the purpose of the environmental remediation [2–29]. TiO 2 photocatalyst
with a convenient bandgap of 3.2 eV (ca. 400 nm) has many attractive features
including high stability, low cost, nontoxicity, good biocompatibility, and good
photocatalytic performance in the oxidation of organic pollutants to CO 2 and
H 2 O. For these reasons, TiO 2 -based photocatalysts have drawn much attention for
various applications in the fields of energy regeneration and environmental
protection.
As mentioned above, due to its excellent properties, lots of systematic in-depth
studies of TiO 2 has been performed by the majority of scientists, promoting the
application process in various aspects related to energy and environment in recent
years. The related research mainly includes studies on photocatalytic mechanism [3–
5], regulation of crystal structure and morphology [6–15], improvement of
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
J. Zhang et al., Photocatalysis, Lecture Notes in Chemistry 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2113-9_6
133
Phase Control of TiO 2 Photocatalyst
6.1 Introduction
In recent years, the environmental pollution and energy exhaustion problems are
attracting more and more attention of mankind on a global scale. Due to the increase
of population and industrial growth, the energy consumption has been accelerating,
and a large amount of toxic agents and industrial wastes have been released into the
air and waterways, leading to energy crisis, global warming, and pollution-related
diseases. Thus, nowadays most scientists face the major challenges to develop the
environmentally harmonious, ecologically clean, safe, and sustainable chemical
technologies, materials, and processes for addressing energy as well as pollution
and climatic change.
Although many different kinds of approaches to solve these issues exist, ever
since Honda and Fujishima [1] found that TiO 2 photoelectrode could induce cleavage of water into H 2 and O 2 under the irradiation of ultraviolet light, there has been
enormous increasing interest in the use of TiO 2 as well as other extended oxide and
chalcogenide semiconductors. The organic toxic materials at low concentrations are
photocatalytically converted to harmless oxidation products such as CO 2 and H 2 O,
achieving the purpose of the environmental remediation [2–29]. TiO 2 photocatalyst
with a convenient bandgap of 3.2 eV (ca. 400 nm) has many attractive features
including high stability, low cost, nontoxicity, good biocompatibility, and good
photocatalytic performance in the oxidation of organic pollutants to CO 2 and
H 2 O. For these reasons, TiO 2 -based photocatalysts have drawn much attention for
various applications in the fields of energy regeneration and environmental
protection.
As mentioned above, due to its excellent properties, lots of systematic in-depth
studies of TiO 2 has been performed by the majority of scientists, promoting the
application process in various aspects related to energy and environment in recent
years. The related research mainly includes studies on photocatalytic mechanism [3–
5], regulation of crystal structure and morphology [6–15], improvement of
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
J. Zhang et al., Photocatalysis, Lecture Notes in Chemistry 100,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2113-9_6
133