Design, Fabrication, and Modification of Nanostructured Semiconductor Materials for Environmental and Energy Applications

Abstract

Considerable effort has been made to design, fabricate, and manipulate nanostructured materials by innovative approaches. The precise control of nanoscale structures will pave the way not only for elucidating unique size/shape-dependent physicochemical properties but also for realizing new applications in science and technology. Nanotechnology offers unprecedented opportunities for improving our daily lives and the environment in which we live. This review mainly describes our recent progress in the design, fabrication, and modification of nanostructured semiconductor materials for environmental applications. Their potential applications in the field of energy are briefly introduced. The scope of this article covers a variety of semiconductor materials, focusing particularly on TiO₂-based nanostructures (e.g., pure, doped, coupled, nanoporous, mesoporous, hierarchically porous, and ordered mesoporous TiO₂). The preparation of nanoparticles, hierarchical nanoarchitectures, thin films, and single crystals by sol−gel, microemulsion, hydrothermal, sonochemical, microwave, photochemical, and nanocasting methods is discussed.