Black TiO₂ Nanomaterials: A Review of Recent Advances

Recently reported black TiO₂ nanomaterials are the unequivocally accepted sun light harvesters which facilitate the maximum solar energy absorption from ultraviolet (UV) to infrared (IR) region of the solar spectrum due to their improved optical absorption properties in comparison to the normal white TiO₂. The recent advancement in black TiO₂ nanomaterials explicitly proved that the structural and morphological features along with the suitable electronic properties are being extensively utilized in many areas of research. The current review focuses on the various synthetic routes for black TiO₂ nanomaterials, their structure, morphological variations, electronic structure and their diverse applications related to environmental and technological fields such as photodegradation of organic pollutants, photocatalytic water splitting, dye sensitized solar cells, batteries, super capacitors and photothermal therapy.