Inorganic semiconductors (metal oxide and in particular TiO2) are widely used photo-catalyst. Nevertheless, in most cases, these materials present only moderate activity and they work only upon UV irradiation. Design of new photo-catalytic nano-composites is hence necessary to make them suitable for energy conversion, bio-application and environmental remediation.
The basic principle is to induce production of an anion starting from a suitable designed precursor with focussed light to induce local precipitation.
Melanin-like nanomaterials find a large variety of technological application ranging from surface modification, energy conversion, photo-thermal catalysis. In Nature melanin plays important role as pigment and photo-protective agents. Similarly to natural melanin melanin-like nanomaterials present excellent biocompatibility. New melanin-like nanomaterials hence promise to find important application for Nanomedicine, energy processing and cosmetics.
