Polymer-supported titanium dioxide photocatalysts for environmental remediation: A review

Since the past two decades, immobilization of titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), a popular photocatalyst, on different substrates has been drawing a lot of attention because it eliminates the need of costly post-treatment separation processes. Considering the various substrates that have been tried for supporting TiO 2 photocatalysts, polymer substrate seems to be very promising due to its several advantages such as flexible nature, low-cost, chemical resistance, mechanical stability, low density, high durability and ease of availability. This review covers over a hundred published papers in the field of polymer-based photocatalysts and presents a comprehensive study on the preparation, photocatalytic activity and reuse of TiO 2 /polymer photocatalysts. Polymer-supported buoyant TiO 2 photocatalysts and biodegradable polymer-supported TiO 2 photocatalysts are also discussed. Finally, the scope for future work and challenges for commercialization of polymer-supported TiO 2 photocatalysts in visible and/or solar light have been highlighted.