Black TiO2 Nanomaterials: A Review of Recent Advances

Recently reported black TiO2 nanomaterials are the unequivocally accepted sun light harvesters which facilitate the maximum solar energy absorption from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) region of the solar spectrum due to their improved optical absorption properties in comparison to the normal white TiO2. The recent advancement in black TiO2 nanomaterials explicitly proved that the structural and morphological features along with the suitable electronic properties are being extensively utilized in many areas of research. The current review focuses on the various synthetic routes for black TiO2 nanomaterials, their structure, morphological variations, electronic structure and their diverse applications related to environmental and technological fields such as photodegradation of organic pollutants, photocatalytic water splitting, dye sensitized solar cells, batteries, super capacitors and photothermal therapy.