Mesoporous Titanium Dioxide

Mesoporous titanium dioxide is extensively employed as photocatalysts for environmental remediation of pollutants, active charge transport carriers in dye sensitized solar cells and for photosplitting of water. Depending on the Depending on the ordering of the pores, they may be classified as periodic or aperiodic materials. The aperiodic materials consist of aerogels (prepared by supercritical drying) and xerogels (prepared by ambient temperature drying). Periodic mesoporous materials are usually prepared by employing sacrificial templates (such as surfactants) to impart order into them. Sol-gel chemistry forms the basis for the preparation of both ordered and non-ordered mesoporous materials. The sol-chemistry of silica is widely explored and there are available methods to control the particle size and porosity of siliceous materials; however it is not easy to control the porosity and particle size of titanium dioxide. We will discuss the synthesis of mesoporous materials, the mechanism of photocatalysis and selected applications related to environmental remediation in aqueous and gas phase in this chapter.