A comprehensive study on photocatalysis: materials and applications

The rapid development of technology and industries has led to environmental pollution and caused serious harm to living beings. Photocatalysis has attracted widespread attention as an efficient way to increase the purity of air and water by controlling environmental pollution. Several materials such as metal oxides, chalcogenides, and semiconductors have emerged as outstanding photocatalysts because of their cleaner processes, low cost, chemical stability, high photo-catalytic ability, non-toxicity, and ability to absorb UV/visible radiations. In this review, photocatalytic activities of metal oxides and other materials are studied for environmental remediation and other applications. Some major materials used as photocatalysts include TiO₂, ZnO, CuO, Fe₂O₃, ZnS, MOFs, COFs, graphene, g-C₃N₄, CNTs and bismuth oxides. The present article discusses the size, structure, surface area, morphology, and band gap of photocatalysts. These are the crucial factors for photocatalysis and influence photocatalytic kinetics. This review summarizes the use of various materials as photocatalysts in numerous applications such as the degradation of inorganic or organic pollutants, environmental remediation, air purification, CO₂ photoreduction and water splitting for hydrogen production. Finally, a conclusion is drawn regarding future research plans to make photocatalyst materials more efficient and stable for environmental and industrial applications.