Foliar Application of Titanium Dioxide Accelerates Net Photosynthesis in Ocimum basilicum

Abstract

In recent years, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) have risen to alarming levels, exacerbating environmental crises such as ocean acidification and global warming (United Nations, n.d.). Plants, through photosynthesis, slow but do not halt the progression of these issues, absorbing roughly 30% of carbon emissions each year (Friedlingstein et al., 2022). However, it is theoretically possible to enhance plants’ CO2 uptake using some catalyst for photosynthesis (Department of Energy, n.d.). The photocatalyst titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a promising candidate because of studies demonstrating its ability to boost plant growth and to photocatalyze water splitting and CO2 reduction, both rate-determining steps in photosynthesis (Li et al., 2022; Tao et al., 2022, Rehman et al. 2022). To investigate the potential of TiO2 as a photosynthetic catalyst, 0, 0.352 and 0.652 g of TiO2 were sprinkled atop three pots of Ocimum basilicum (basil). Placed in sealable containers with CO2 meters, the plants’ consumption of CO2 was measured twice every day. Although previous literature has looked into The average consumption for the 0.652 g TiO2 group was 223.875 ppm, almost 15% times the average for the 0 g TiO2 control, which came out to be 151.625 ppm. Surprisingly, the 0.326 g TiO2 group was around 62% of the control, with an average consumption of 94.625 ppm.