Abstract
The pure, tin (Sn)-doped, lanthanum (La)-doped and Sn/La co-doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials were synthesized using sol-gel method followed by calcination at the temperature of 360 °C, 450 °C and 600 °C, respectively. The structures of the nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TG), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrum (EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrum (XPS), Diffuse Reflectance Spectrum (DRS), Photoluminescence Spectrum (PL), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Measurements (BET), respectively. The photocatalytic property of the photocatalysts under UV light was evaluated through the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). The results show that the anatase-rutile phase transition is promoted by Sn-doping while La-doping retards the phase transition. However, La doping plays a major role in the process of phase transformation. The photocatalytic activity of pure TiO2 is affected by annealing temperature remarkably and the optimal annealing temperature is 450 °C. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is enhanced significantly by Sn and La doping at three different temperatures. Sn/La-TiO2 exhibits the highest degradation rates and the fastest reaction rates probably owing to the synergistic effect of Sn4+ and La3+ ions in inhibiting the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The formation of extra surface hydroxyl groups and additional surface area are also beneficial for the photocatalytic activity.
Highlights
Environmental pollution is an increasingly serious problem, which restricts the development of economy severely
Compared to 360 °C, the intensity of peaks at 450 °C increases and the width of peaks becomes narrow, which imply that crystalline integrity improves with increase in temperature[19,35]
The anatase/rutile weight ratios were calculated by the following equation[37]: XR = (1 + 0.8(IA/IR))−1 where XR is the weight fraction of rutile, IA and IR are the relative strength of anatase (101) plane and rutile (110) plane, respectively
Summary
Sn/La co-doped TiO2 nanomaterials and their phase transformation and Received: 24 April 2018 Accepted: 23 July 2018 Published: xx xx xxxx photocatalytic activity. The structures of the nanomaterials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric (TG), Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectrum (EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectrum (XPS), Diffuse Reflectance Spectrum (DRS), Photoluminescence Spectrum (PL), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller Measurements (BET), respectively. The photocatalytic activity of TiO2 is enhanced significantly by Sn and La doping at three different temperatures. TiO2 doping with Sn is an effective method to enhance photocatalytic activity since the coupling of TiO2 with SnO2 decreases the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and improves charge separation[20,26,27]. The purposes of this work was to synthesize Sn/La co-doped TiO2 nanomaterials and investigate their anatase-rutile phase transition as well as photocatalytic activities under UV light at different temperatures. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared nanomaterials under UV light was evaluated from the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB).
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