Pr, N, and P tri-doped anatase TiO2 nanosheets with enhanced photocatalytic activity under sunlight

Abstract

Pr, N, and P tri-doped anatase TiO2 nanosheets (PrNPTO) were synthesized by a combined sol-gel solvothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-vis absorbance spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy. When the Pr-doping concentration was 1.75 wt% and calcination temperature employed was 550 °C, the resulting PrNPTO showed the highest photoactivity towards the degradation of methylene blue under visible and UV light irradiation. PrNPTO also displayed superior photoactivity towards the degradation of 4-chlorophenol under sunlight (kapp = 3.90 × 10-2 min-1) over the non-doped, single-doped, and co-doped samples, and P25 TiO2 (kapp = 1.17 × 10-2 min-1). The high photoactivity of PrNPTO was attributed to the increased UV and visible light absorption properties, reduced recombination of photogenerated carriers, increased surface hydroxyl content, and improved surface textural properties. PrNPTO was highly efficient and stable under simulated sunlight irradiation, which are essential attributes for practical application in environment-related remediation schemes.

Synthesis and Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of Spinel MAl₂O₄(M=Mg, Zn, Cu)

“…Many studies have been conducted by scientists from various countries for this subject such as doping modification of TiO 2 [1][2], semiconductors coupling [3]. Some scholars are committed to the development of photocatalysts with narrow band gaps such as BiVO 4 [4], Cu 7.2 (Se x S 1-x ) 4 [5], especially spinel materials such as CaIn 2 O 4 [6], ZnM 2 O 4 (M = Cr, Al, Mn,) [7], etc. They have a better catalytic activity in the visible light region, but there is no research about visible light catalytic activity of spine MAl 2 O 4 (M = Mg, Zn, Cu) and their change rules of performances.…”

Impact of vanadium‐, sulfur‐, and dysprosium‐doped zinc oxide nanoparticles on various properties of PVDF/functionalized‐PMMA blend nanocomposites: Structural, optical, and morphological studies

“…The small shift in absorption edge is due to the addition of small amount of impurity to the ZnO lattices. This is due to the quantum confinement effect as the particle size increased, the band gap is decreased. The absorption onset and band‐gap energy ( E g ) for pure and doped ZnO nanoparticles was provided in Table which was calculated according to as‐mentioned equation.…”

Microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of Nd, N, and P tri-doped TiO2 from TiCl4 hydrolysis and synergetic mechanism for enhanced photoactivity under simulated sunlight irradiation

“…The broad absorption bands around 3439 cm À 1 in the FTIR spectra for all the samples are attributed to overlapping asymmetric and symmetric À OH stretching vibrations of weakly bound water molecule and associated surface hydroxyl groups [30]. The peaks around 1636 cm À 1 are related to ÀOH bending vibrations of adsorbed water molecules [5][6][7][8]. As for NdPTO and NdNPTO, the absorption peaks at 1037 cm À 1 are observed in their FTIR spectra, but are absent for the samples without P-doping such as TO and NdNTO, which are assigned to Ti-O-P stretching modes [6,7].…”