ABSTRACT
Catalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601 19.4 Photocatalytic Decomposition of Water into H2 and O2 Using TiO2
Thin Film Photocatalysts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 607 19.5 Local Structures of the Active Surface Sites of Ti-MCM-41
Catalysts and their Photocatalytic Reactivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 19.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Environmental pollution and destruction on a global scale as well as the lack of sufficient clean and natural energy sources have drawnmuch attention and concern to the vital need for ecologically clean chemical technology, materials, and processes-one of the most urgent challenges that the chemical scientists face. Since the photosensitized decomposition ofwater intoH2 andO2 using a electrochemical cell consisted of Pt electrode and TiO2 semiconductor electrode was first reported by Fujishima and Honda in 1972 [1], photocatalysis using various powdered semiconductors has received much attention for their potential in the conversion of light energy into useful chemical energy. Semiconductor photocatalysis, with its early focus on TiO2 as an effective photocatalyst, has been applied to a variety of
“DK3029_C019” — #2
reactions, significantly, to address the reduction and elimination of environmental pollutants in water and air. It has been shown to be useful for the decomposition of microorganisms such as bacteria [2] and viruses [3], the deactivation of cancer cells [4,5], the degradation and elimination of offensive odors [6], the photosplitting of water to produce H2 gas [7-12], the fixation of nitrogen [13-16], and the clean up of oil spills [17-19].
