The most widely used oxide for photocatalytic applications owing to its low cost and high activity is TiO₂. The discovery of the photolysis of water on the surface of TiO₂ in 1972 launched four decades of intensive research into the underlying chemical and physical processes involved. Despite much collected evidence, a thoroughly convincing explanation of why mixed-phase samples of anatase and rutile outperform the individual polymorphs has remained elusive. One long-standing controversy is the energetic alignment of the band edges of the rutile and anatase polymorphs of TiO₂ (ref. ). We demonstrate, through a combination of state-of-the-art materials simulation techniques and X-ray photoemission experiments, that a type-II, staggered, band alignment of ~ 0.4 eV exists between anatase and rutile with anatase possessing the higher electron affinity, or work function. Our results help to explain the robust separation of photoexcited charge carriers between the two phases and highlight a route to improved photocatalysts.

Can new hybrid perovskites be predicted using the tolerance factor?

This review summarises the key topics in the field of self-cleaning coatings, concentrating on the materials that have been used in commercial applications and recent research that aims to improve these materials. Hydrophobic and hydrophilic coatings are discussed, and the various mechanisms of self-cleaning are described and related to the material properties of the coatings. Although several multinational companies have released products incorporating self-cleaning coatings, there remains much potential in this field.

Graphitic carbon nitride has been predicted to be structurally analogous to carbon-only graphite, yet with an inherent bandgap. We have grown, for the first time, macroscopically large crystalline thin films of triazine-based, graphitic carbon nitride (TGCN) using an ionothermal, interfacial reaction starting with the abundant monomer dicyandiamide. The films consist of stacked, two-dimensional (2D) crystals between a few and several hundreds of atomic layers in thickness. Scanning force and transmission electron microscopy show long-range, in-plane order, while optical spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations corroborate a direct bandgap between 1.6 and 2.0 eV. Thus TGCN is of interest for electronic devices, such as field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes.

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