Engineering titania nanostructure to tune and improve its photocatalytic activity

Significance This work shows that hole−electron recombination can be controlled by engineering the length of brookite nanorods, and that a variety of organic substrates can be efficiently oxidized as the counterreaction to hydrogen evolution. Both are important steps to developing photocatalysis as a sustainable technology. Electron−hole recombination is a major fundamental limitation in any photocatalytic process. By controlling and reducing it with rod length, we can increase the efficiency of photocatalyzed processes. Also, by utilizing demanding substrates in aqueous media, ethanol, glucose, and glycerol, we make a step toward the photoreforming of more plentiful feedstocks such as, or derived from, biomass.