Chapter 11 Shaping photocatalysts: Morphological modifications of semiconductors

Abstract

Tuning the size and shape of semiconductor particles to improve the performance and widen the range of application of these materials has attracted an extraordinary interest in nanotechnology, and it is matter of extensive research. Besides composition and structure, at the nanometre scale, material properties have proved to be very sensitive not only to the size but also to the shape of the particles. Control over nanocrystal architecture has opened the range of applications of semiconductors from light-emitting diodes (LEDs), medical diagnosis and energy storage, to information processing, besides their conventional uses in catalysis.