Photocatalytic Treatment of Environmental Pollutants using Multilevel-Structure TiO2-based Organic and Inorganic Nanocomposites

Nanostructured materials often exhibit unique physical properties, such as fast carrier transport, subwavelength optical waveguiding, and a high surface-area-to-volume ratio. When the size of a material is reduced to nanoscale dimensions, its physical and chemical properties can change dramatically. In addition, nanostructures offer exciting new opportunities for environmental applications. In this review, we aim to provide an up-to-date summary of recent research related to multifunctional TiO2-based inorganic and organic semiconductor nanomaterials, covering both their synthesis and applications. After a brief introduction of the definition and classification of TiO2-based inorganic and organic semiconductor nanomaterial structures, we discuss various application strategies, such as sewage treatment, heavy metal removal, and the oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding aldehydes. In our previous work, we fabricated a variety of TiO2-based hollow spheres using a diverse range of materials from inorganic semiconductors to organic semiconductors and applied these structures as photocatalysts. Further, the development of these nanostructures may enable numerous applications in the field of environmental technology.