Recent applications of TiO2 nanomaterials in chemical sensing in aqueous media

TiO2 is n-type, wide band-gap and environmentally friendly semiconductor with good biocompatibility and stability. On the one hand, owing to the large surface area. TiO2 nanomaterials possess unique chemical, physical, optical, electronic and photocatalytic properties. On the other hand, a large amount of the TiO2 nanostructures were synthesized, characterized and available for construction of sensor due to the tremendous efforts from scientists and materials engineers. These bestow the TiO2 nanomaterials be used as an extremely versatile component to construct a wide range of sensing devices for determination of chemicals in aqueous media. This work aims to review the recent applications of the TiO2 nanomaterials for fabrication of electrochemical sensors, electrochemical biosensors, photocatalytic sensors and photoelectrocatalytic sensors. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.