Development of tailored TiO2 mesocrystals for solar driven photocatalysis

Ordered metal oxides superstructures have attracted much more attention in the fields of fuel generation and environmental purification owing to their unique physiochemical characteristics such as large surface area, fine pore structure, efficient electronic mobility, and good stability. Very recently, TiO2 mesocrystals (TMCs) having superstructures self-assembled by TiO2 nanoparticle building blocks, are of considerable interest in current research and application ranging from UV to visible light attributed to their efficient charge separation and superior photocatalytic activity. In this review, we describe the common procedures to prepare unique TMCs and overview of recent developments of TMCs during last 3 years, especially the structure-related or electronic-effected mechanism in photocatalytic reaction. Further, we introduce the characterization and fundamental properties of modified TMCs by the means of single-particle fluorescence microscopy for unraveling the charge transport and photocatalytic properties of individual TMCs and time-resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (TDR) for monitoring the charge transfer dynamics. Finally, various aspects on TMCs are discussed for the future developments of energy and environmental fields. (C) 2016 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B. V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.