Studies on titania aerogels for Energy applications

Abstract

Titanium dioxide TiO2 has been widely used as a pigment in newlinesunscreens paints and ointments since its commercial production from its ore newlineilmenite In 1972 Fujishima and Honda reported the electrochemical splitting newlineof water in to hydrogen and oxygen on the surface of TiO2 In 1977 the photo newlinecatalytic degradation of organic pollutants present in water and the self newlinecleaning properties of TiO2 were demonstrated In 1991 Gratzel employed a newlinenanocrystalline TiO2 layer with a monolayer of dye molecules for the newlinesuccessful conversion of solar energy to electrical energy After these newlinelandmark discoveries different morphologies and nanostructures of TiO2 newlinewere extensively studied for various applications Particularly different newlinenanostructures such as nanospheres nanoparticles nanotubes nanorods and newlinenanowires were employed as photoanode materials in dyesensitized solar newlinecells Though these nanostructures newline newline