title: A survey of photocatalytic materials for environmental remediation.
abstract: Heterogeneous photocatalysis is an advanced oxidation process which has been the subject of a huge amount of studies related to air cleaning and water purification. All these processes have been carried out mainly by using TiO(2)-based materials as the photocatalysts and ca. 75% of the articles published in the last 3 years is related to them. This review illustrates the efforts in the search of alternative photocatalysts that are not based on TiO(2), with some exceptions concerning particularly innovative modifications as nanoassembled TiO(2) or TiO(2) composites with active carbon, graphite and fullerene. Papers reporting preparation, characterization and testing of binary, ternary and quaternary compounds, have been reviewed. Despite many of these photocatalysts being effective for the photodecomposition of many pollutants, most of them do not allow a complete mineralization of the starting compounds, differently from TiO(2).
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Elettrica, Elettronica e delle Telecomunicazioni, di tecnologie Chimiche, Automatica e modelli Matematici (DIEETCAM), Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128 Palermo, Italy. agatino.dipaola@unipa.it
authors.forename: Agatino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Paola
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: García-López
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Marcì
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Palmisano
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D010087:Oxides; C009495:titanium dioxide; D014025:Titanium