ABSTRACT
Environmental pollution and destruction on a global scale have drawn attention to the vital need for totally new, safe, and clean chemical technologies and processes, the most important challenge facing chemical scientists for the 21st century. Strong contenders as environmentally harmonious catalysts are titanium oxide photocatalysts which can operate at room temperature in a clean and safe manner. Such photocatalytic systems are urgently needed for the purification of polluted water, the decomposition of offensive atmospheric odors as well as toxins, the fixation of CO2, and the decomposition of NOx and chlorofluorocarbons on a global scale [1-8]. Furthermore, transparent titanium oxide thin-film photocatalysts prepared on glass, tile, and various architectural materials have been actively investigated as promising antibacterial, self-cleaning, and deodorization systems [6, 7].
