Heterostructures construction on TiO2 nanobelts: A powerful tool for building high-performance photocatalysts

Semiconductor photocatalysis is a promising approach to combat both environmental pollution and the global energy shortage. Advanced TiO2-based photocatalysts with novel photoelectronic properties are benchmark materials that have been pursued for their high solar energy conversion efficiency. Among the different morphological TiO2 nanostructures, TiO2 nanobelts (NBs) attract more attention due to their unique physical properties and ideal ID ribbon-like morphology that is favorable for constructing heterostructures by assembling second-phase nanoparticles on the surface of the NBs. A large number of studies have proven that well-designed TiO2 NB heterostructures can not only broaden the photocatalytically active light band of TiO2 but also enhance the light absorption performance and the photo-induced carrier separation ability. The TiO2 NB heterostructure has become a versatile and powerful tool for building high-performance TiO2-based photocatalysts, which has stimulated intense research activities focused on the growth, properties, and applications of the 1D TiO2 NB and its heterostructures. This review attempts to cover all these aspects, including the underlying principles and key functional features of TiO2 NBs and TiO2 NB heterostructures in a comprehensive way and also discuss the prospects of this type of novel hybrid photocatalyst. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.