Products employing titanium dioxide as a photocatalyst are becoming more and more common in everyday life. The very simple reaction of splitting water with light energy has blossomed in both industry and academia, giving birth to a surprising number of applications. Begun by Emeritus Professor Kenichi Honda and Honorary Emeritus Professor Akira Fujishima at the University of Tokyo, today Professor Kazuhito Hashimoto continues this research at the Graduate School of Engineering. Discovery of the Honda-Fujishima effect When titanium dioxide (TiO2) is irradiated with light, the energy absorbed enables the decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen. This phenomenon was discovered by chance by Akira Fujishima, a graduate student working under the guidance of Associate Professor Kenichi Honda, beginning the half-century story of titanium dioxide. A photocatalyst is any material that uses light energy to promote a chemical reaction. However, research on titanium dioxide and its derivatives has dominated over other materials and titanium dioxide is the only photocatalyst that has seen industrial application. The discovery that titanium dioxide photocatalyzed the decomposition of water was announced in 1972 in the journal Nature, and is now called the Honda-Fujishima effect after its discoverers. That titanium dioxide, a common material used in white paint
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