Photoinduced reactivity of titanium dioxide

The utilization of solar irradiation to supply energy or to initiate chemical reactions is already an established idea. If a wide-band gap semiconductor like titanium dioxide (TiO2) is irradiated with light, excited electron-hole pairs result that can be applied in solar cells to generate electricity or in chemical processes to create or degrade specific compounds. Recently, a new process used on the surface of TiO2 films, namely, photoinduced super-hydrophilicity, is described. All three appearances of the photoreactivity of TiO2 are discussed in detail in this review, but the main focus is on the photocatalytic activity towards environmentally hazardous compounds (organic, inorganic, and biological materials), which are found in wastewater or in air. Besides information on the mechanistical aspects and applications of these kinds of reactions, a description of the attempts and possibilities to improve the reactivity is also provided. This paper would like to assist the reader in getting an overview of this exciting, but also complicated, field. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.