Solvothermal alcoholysis synthesis of hierarchical TiO2 with enhanced activity in environmental and energy photocatalysis

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) represents the most widely used semiconductor photocatalysts and photovoltaics owing to its stability, low cost, and nontoxicity properties. The performances of TiO2 highly governed by the physical and chemical properties such as specific surface area, particle size, porous structure, exposed crystal plane, and surface chemistry etc. Synthesis technology plays a key role in determining the structural characteristics by controlling the rates of hydrolysis, condensation and crystallization and crystal growth. Solvothermal alcoholysis has received increasing interest in synthesizing metal oxides owing to the unique ability in controlling particle size, shape and crystal structure. This review aims to summarize the hierarchical TiO2 synthesized by solvothermal alcoholysis and display their enhanced activities in energy and environmental photocatalysis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.