Photocatalytic TiO2/Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites for Environmental Applications: An Overview and Recent Developments

For the past couple of years, the surge of industrial activities that inevitably resulted in an increasing flux of pollutants in the environment still remains n intricate challenge for nations. With the advancement of carbon nanotube (CNT), there has been a consistently growing interest in the research area. Recently, combining TiO2 with CNT is being increasingly examined as a means to improve photocatalytic activity, and demonstration of enhancements are bountiful. This paper surveys the literature and highlights recent development in the TiO2/CNT nanocomposite catalysts and more recently developed morphologies. Furthermore, the proposed mechanisms of enhancement are summarized and discussed. The paper then provides an up-to-date picture of the synthesis techniques for these nanocomposite catalysts and their photocatalytic reactions with organic and inorganic pollutants in both liquid and gaseous environments. Finally, the future perspectives together with the challenges for these nanocomposite catalysts are presented.