Abstract
Titania is one of the most widely used standard reference photocatalysts in the field of environmental applications. However, the wide anatase band gap and high degree of recombination between photogenerated charge carriers is limiting titania overall photocatalytic efficiency in water and air purification. This paper reviews recent studies on semiconductor photocatalysis, carried out at the Institute of Catalysis of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, aimed at enhancing the efficiency of TiO2-based photocatalysts and obtaining novel photocatalytic systems for sunlight utilization and application of methods improving the overall performance of the photocatalytic processes.