In this study, we tested the efficiency of nitrogen-doped titanium dioxide (N-TiO2) and nitrogen-doped bismuth molybdate (N-Bi2MoO6) compounds as photocatalysts capable of degrading methylene blue and lignin molecules under irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) and visible light (VIS). Moreover, we compared TiO2 and Bi2MoO6 catalysts with N-TiO2 and N-Bi2MoO6 compounds using chemical coprecipitation. The catalysts were prepared starting from Ti(OCH2CH2CH3)4, Bi(NO3)3·5H2O, and (NH4)6Mo7O24 reagents. N-doping was achieved in a continuous reflux system, using ethylene diamine as a nitrogen source. The resulting materials were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Additionally, we observed the decrease in particle size after processing the compounds in the reflux system. The results regarding photocatalytic degradation tests show a remarkable effect for nitrogen doped samples, achieving 90% of lignin degradation.
The present work is aimed to study a comparison among synthesized graphene films, deposited on copper substrates and commercial graphene films; both decorated with Eu2O3 particles, with the purpose of promoting photoluminescence. The decoration procedure was achieved using the radio frequency sputtering (R.F. Sputtering) technique for the deposition of Eu2O3 on synthesized or commercial graphene films. The SEM obtained images, show differences in morphology when commercial and synthesized graphene films are compared. Our results indicate that the type of surface is the main factor that accounts for the europium oxide spatial distribution that ultimately leads to luminescence enhancing. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses, showed the trivalent oxidation state of europium and the atomic content of Europium for both; the commercial graphene film and synthesized one, where the first one presented the higher europium concentration. Analysis by Raman spectroscopy reveals that graphene films become disordered after the decoration is achieved. The main Raman bands of the commercial graphene films undergo a remarkable red shift, as a consequence of the presence of europium oxide It was observed that the interaction of Eu2O3 with the sp2 levels of graphene, improves the red photoluminescence of the samples grown on both, commercial and prepared graphene films.
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