Polymer-supported titanium dioxide photocatalysts for environmental remediation: A review Review Article

Since the past two decades, immobilization of titanium dioxide (TiO2), a popular photocatalyst, on different substrates has been drawing a lot of attention because it eliminates the need of costly post-treatment separation processes. Considering the various substrates that have been tried for supporting TiO2 photocatalysts, polymer substrate seems to be very promising due to its several advantages such as flexible nature, low-cost, chemical resistance, mechanical stability, low density, high durability and ease of availability. This review covers over a hundred published papers in the field of polymer-based photocatalysts and presents a comprehensive study on the preparation, photocatalytic activity and reuse of TiO2/polymer photocatalysts. Polymer-supported buoyant TiO2 photocatalysts and biodegradable polymer-supported TiO2 photocatalysts are also discussed. Finally, the scope for future work and challenges for commercialization of polymer-supported TiO2 photocatalysts in visible and/or solar light have been highlighted.