TiO(2) Based Nanostructures for Photocatalytic CO(2) Conversion to Valuable Chemicals

Photocatalytic conversion of CO(2) to useful products is an alluring approach for acquiring the two-fold benefits of normalizing excess atmospheric CO(2) levels and the production of solar chemicals/fuels. Therefore, photocatalytic materials are continuously being developed with enhanced performance in accordance with their respective domains. In recent years, nanostructured photocatalysts such as one dimensional (1-D), two dimensional (2-D) and three dimensional (3-D)/hierarchical have been a subject of great importance because of their explicit advantages over 0-D photocatalysts, including high surface areas, effective charge separation, directional charge transport, and light trapping/scattering effects. Furthermore, the strategy of doping (metals and non-metals), as well as coupling with a secondary material (noble metals, another semiconductor material, graphene, etc.), of nanostructured photocatalysts has resulted in an amplified photocatalytic performance. In the present review article, various titanium dioxide (TiO(2))-based nanostructured photocatalysts are briefly overviewed with respect to their application in photocatalytic CO(2) conversion to value-added chemicals. This review primarily focuses on the latest developments in TiO(2)-based nanostructures, specifically 1-D (TiO(2) nanotubes, nanorods, nanowires, nanobelts etc.) and 2-D (TiO(2) nanosheets, nanolayers), and the reaction conditions and analysis of key parameters and their role in the up-grading and augmentation of photocatalytic performance. Moreover, TiO(2)-based 3-D and/or hierarchical nanostructures for CO(2) conversions are also briefly scrutinized, as they exhibit excellent performance based on the special nanostructure framework, and can be an exemplary photocatalyst architecture demonstrating an admirable performance in the near future.