A potentially useful means of predicting the pulmonary risk posed by new forms of nano-structured titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) is to use the associations between the physicochemical properties and pulmonary toxicity of characterized forms of TiO2. In the present study, we conducted intratracheal administration studies in rats to clarify the associations between the physicochemical characteristi...

A critical comparison of studies that have investigated tissue accumulation and toxicity of TiO2-NPs in fish is necessary to resolve inconsistencies. The present study used identical TiO2-NPs, toxicological endpoints, and fish (juvenile rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss) as previous studies that investigated waterborne and dietary toxicity of TiO2-NPs, and conducted a critical comparison of res...

Silver deposited titania (Ag/TiO2) nanocomposite thin films were fabricated by the simple sonochemical deposition of Ag on preformed aerosol-assisted chemical vapor deposited TiO2 thin films. The photelectrocatalytic performance of a newly fabricated Ag/TiO2-modified photoelectrode was studied for methanol oxidation under simulated solar AM 1.5G irradiation (100 mW/cm2). The Ag/TiO2-modified ph...

A facile method was used to prepare uniform Au NR/TiO2 and Au/Ag NR/TiO2 core-shell composite nanoparticles. Au/Ag NR/TiO2 nanoparticles were found to display significantly enhanced visible light photo-catalytic activity compared to Au NR/TiO2 and the commercially available TiO2 nanoparticles. The enhancement mechanism was ascribed to injection of hot electrons of photo-excited Au/Ag NRs to TiO...

The heterojunction effects of TiO2 nanotubes on photoconductive characteristics were investigated. For ITO/TiO2/Si diodes, the photocurrent is controlled either by the TiO2/Si heterojunction (p-n junction) or the ITO-TiO2 heterojunction (Schottky contact). In the short circuit (approximately 0 V) condition, the TiO2-Si heterojunction dominates the photocarrier transportation direction due to it...

We investigated the genotoxic responses to two types of TiO2 nanoparticles (<25 nm anatase: TiO(2)-An, and <100 nm rutile: TiO2-Ru) in human hepatoma HepG2 cells. Under the applied exposure conditions the particles were agglomerated or aggregated with the size of agglomerates and aggregates in the micrometer range, and were not cytotoxic. TiO2-An, but not TiO2-Ru, caused a persistent increase i...

Hetero-element doping (e.g., N, F, C) of TiO2 is inevitably accompanied by significantly increased structural defects due to the dopants' nature being foreign impurities. Very recently, in situ self-doping with homo-species (e.g., Ti(3+)) has been emerging as a rational solution to enhance TiO2 photoactivity within both UV and visible light regions. Herein we demonstrate that conventional elect...

The interaction strength of Au nanoparticles with pristine and nitrogen doped TiO2 nanowire surfaces was analysed using density functional theory and their significance in enhancing the solar driven photoelectrocatalytic properties was elucidated. In this article, we prepared 4-dimethylaminopyridine capped Au nanoparticle decorated TiO2 nanowire systems. The density functional theory calculatio...

The amorphous TiO2 derived from hydroxylation has become an effective approach for the enhancement of photocatalytic activity of TiO2 since a kind of special black TiO2 was prepared by engineering disordered layers on TiO2 nanocrystals via hydrogenation. In this contribution, we prepared totally amorphous TiO2 with various degrees of blackness by introducing hydroxyls via ultrasonic irradiation...

Anabaena sp. was used to examine the toxicity of exposure to a nano-TiO2 suspension, Zn2+ solution, and mixtures of nano-TiO2 and Zn2+ suspensions. Typical chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, including effective quantum yield, photosynthetic efficiency and maximal electron transport rate, were measured by a pulse-amplitude modulated fluorometer. Nano-TiO2 particles exhibited no significant tox...