Novel TiO₂/Sn₃O₄ heterostructure photocatalysts were ingeniously synthesized via a scalable two-step method. The impressive photocatalytic abilities of the TiO₂/Sn₃O₄ sphere nanocomposites were validated by the degradation test of methyl orange and •OH trapping photoluminescence experiments under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light irradiation, respectively. Especially under the visible light, t...

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were prepared by capitalizing on mesoporous P-25 TiO(2) nanoparticle film sensitized with N719 dyes. Subjecting TiO(2) nanoparticle films to TiCl(4) treatment, the device performance was improved. More importantly, O(2) plasma processing of TiO(2) film that was not previously TiCl(4)-treated resulted in a lower efficiency; by contrast, subsequent O(2) plasma e...

To study the effect of nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) on cell responses, we synthesized four modifications of the TiO(2) (amorphous, anatase, brookite, and rutile) capable of keeping their physicochemical characteristics in a cell culture medium. The modifications of nanoscale TiO(2) were obtained by hydrolysis of TiCl(4) and Ti(i-OC(3)H(7))(4) (TIP) upon variation of the synthesis conditi...

Several polynuclear transition-metal complexes, including our own dinuclear di-μ-oxo manganese compound [H(2)O(terpy)Mn(III)(μ-O)(2)Mn(IV)(terpy)H(2)O](NO(3))(3) (1, terpy = 2,2':6',2''-terpyridine), have been reported to be homogeneous catalysts for water oxidation. This paper reports the covalent attachment of 1 onto nanoparticulate TiO(2) surfaces using a robust chromophoric linker L. L, a p...

The structures of many important functional oxides contain networks of metal-oxygen polyhedral units i.e. MOn. The correlation between the configurations and connectivities of these MOn to properties is essentially important to be well established to conduct the design, synthesis and application of new MOn-based functional materials. In this paper, we report on an atomic-scale solution-chemistr...

After clarifying the formation mechanism of a typical metal glycolate precipitate, Ti glycolate, in a polyol-mediated synthesis using acetone as a precipitation medium, we describe a simple template-free approach based on an ethylene glycol-mediated synthesis to fabricate mesoporous metal oxide coated-nanocarbon hybrid materials including TiO₂ coated-carbon nanotube (CNT), SnO₂ coated-CNT, Cu₂O...

The combination of TiO₂ photocatalyst and magnetic oxide nanoparticles enhances the separation and recoverable properties of nanosized TiO₂ photocatalyst. Metal-modified (Me = Pd, Au, Pt, Cu) TiO₂/SiO₂@Fe₃O₄ nanocomposites were prepared by an ultrasonic-assisted sol-gel method. All prepared samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) metho...

By proving the bactericidal effects of a low-concentration titanium dioxide (TiO(2)) particle mixture against Staphylococcus aureus, we hope to ultimately apply a mixture of this type as part of a clinical treatment regimen. A bacterial suspension of S. aureus 1 x 10(5) CFU/ml was added dropwise to a TiO(2) particle mixture (19 ppm TiO(2)) and irradiated by ultraviolet (UV) light. The colony-fo...

We report hydrothermal synthesis of single crystalline TiO(2) nanowire arrays with unprecedented small feature sizes of ~5 nm and lengths up to 4.4 μm on fluorine-doped tin oxide substrates. A substantial amount of nitrogen (up to 1.08 atomic %) can be incorporated into the TiO(2) lattice via nitridation in NH(3) flow at a relatively low temperature (500 °C) because of the small cross-section o...

A gold nanoparticle-coated and surface-textured TiO2 inverse opal (Au/st-TIO) structure that provides a dramatic improvement of photoelectrochemical hydrogen generation has been fabricated by nano-patterning of TiO2 precursors on TiO2 inverse opal (TIO) and subsequent deposition of gold NPs. The surface-textured TiO2 inverse opal (st-TIO) maximizes the photon trapping effects triggered by the l...