Abstract
Mesoporous titania (mp-TiO2) has drawn tremendous attention for a diverse set of applications due to its high surface area, interfacial structure, and tunable combination of pore size, pore orientation, wall thickness, and pore connectivity. Its pore structure facilitates rapid diffusion of reactants and charge carriers to the photocatalytically active interface of TiO2. However, because the large band gap of TiO2 limits its ability to utilize visible light, non-metal doping has been extensively studied to tune the energy levels of TiO2. While first-principles calculations support the efficacy of this approach, it is challenging to efficiently introduce active non-metal dopants into the lattice of TiO2. This review surveys recent advances in the preparation of mp-TiO2 and their doping with non-metal atoms. Different doping strategies and dopant sources are discussed. Further, co-doping with combinations of non-metal dopants are discussed as strategies to reduce the band gap, improve photogenerated charge separation, and enhance visible light absorption. The improvements resulting from each doping strategy are discussed in light of potential changes in mesoporous architecture, dopant composition and chemical state, extent of band gap reduction, and improvement in photocatalytic activities. Finally, potential applications of non-metal-doped mp-TiO2 are explored in water splitting, CO2 reduction, and environmental remediation with visible light.
Document Type
Review
Publication Date
3-11-2017
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/inorganics5010015
Funding Information
The authors acknowledge financial support from National Science Foundation EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Initiative award supported by grant No. IIA-1355438.
Repository Citation
Islam, Syed Z.; Nagpure, Suraj R.; Kim, Doo Young; and Rankin, Stephen E., "Synthesis and Catalytic Applications of Non-Metal Doped Mesoporous Titania" (2017). Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications. 23.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cme_facpub/23
Included in
Chemical Engineering Commons, Inorganic Chemistry Commons, Materials Science and Engineering Commons
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Inorganics, v. 5, issue 1, 15, p. 1-43.
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).