Pollutants In Aqueous Media Research Articles

Graphene oxide incorporated chitosan/acrylamide/itaconic acid semi-interpenetrating network hydrogel bio-adsorbents for highly efficient and selective removal of cationic dyes

In recent years, polymeric bio-adsorbents offers high removal efficiency, superior adsorption capacity and selectivity against various pollutants in aqueous medium. While designing these adsorbents, their environmental friendliness, sustainability, renewability, easy accessibility, and cost-effectiveness should be considered. In this study, GO incorporated semi-interpenetrating network (semi-IPN) nanocomposite hydrogels (CS/AAm/IA/GO) were obtained by free radical copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) and itaconic acid (IA) in the presence of chitosan (CS) as an environmentally friendly bio-adsorbent. GO significantly improved the thermal stability, compressive strength, and percentage swelling of the hydrogel. The selective adsorption studies demonstrated that methylene blue (MB) was the most efficiently removed dye from both individual and mixed dye systems with 99.8 % removal efficiency. The adsorption capacity was found to be 247.47 mg g−1 using 0.025 g hydrogel adsorbent containing 0.5 wt% of GO and an initial MB concentration of 5 mg L−1 at pH 8 over 90 min at room temperature. The kinetic and isotherm studies revealed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Thermodynamic studies suggested the spontaneous and endothermic nature of MB adsorption. Also, the MB removal efficiency above 96 % was obtained after 7 consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles while maintaining the structural stability of the bio-adsorbent.

Advances in Detection of Antibiotic Pollutants in Aqueous Media Using Molecular Imprinting Technique-A Review.

Antibiotics constitute one of the emerging categories of persistent organic pollutants, characterised by their expansion of resistant pathogens. Antibiotic pollutants create a major public health challenge, with already identifiable detrimental effects on human and animal health. A fundamental aspect of controlling and preventing the spread of pollutants is the continuous screening and monitoring of environmental samples. Molecular imprinting is a state-of-the-art technique for designing robust biomimetic receptors called molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), which mimic natural biomolecules in target-selective recognition. When integrated with an appropriate sensor transducer, MIP demonstrates a potential for the needed environmental monitoring, thus justifying the observed rise in interest in this field of research. This review examines scientific interventions within the last decade on the determination of antibiotic water pollutants using MIP receptors interfaced with label-free sensing platforms, with an expanded focus on optical, piezoelectric, and electrochemical systems. Following these, the review evaluates the analytical performance of outstanding MIP-based sensors for environmentally significant antibiotics, while highlighting the importance of computational chemistry in functional monomer selection and the strategies for signal amplification and performance improvement. Lastly, the review points out the future trends in antibiotic MIP research, as it transits from a proof of concept to the much demanded commercially available entity.

Lignosulfonate valorization into a Cu-containing magnetically recyclable photocatalyst for treating wastewater pollutants in aqueous media

This study presents an eco-friendly and economical process for preparing a magnetic copper complex conjugated to modified calcium lignosulfonate (LS) through a diamine (Fe3O4@LS@naphthalene-1,5-diamine@copper complex; FLN-Cu) as a green and novel catalyst. The prepared catalyst was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), elemental mapping, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) techniques. The photocatalytic performance of the synthesized FLN-Cu catalyst was investigated by the degradation of aqueous solutions of dyes such as Rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB), and Congo red (CR) under UV irradiation. The dye degradation was followed by UV–Vis (ultraviolet–visible) spectrophotometry by measuring the changes in absorbance. The effects of different factors such as pH, contact time, photocatalyst dosage, and initial concentration of dye on the adsorption percentage were also investigated. Moreover, the catalyst showed high stability and could be readily separated from the reaction media using a magnet and reused five times without a remarkable loss of catalytic ability.

Evaluation of the performance of a hybrid advanced oxidation process for degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous media

ABSTRACT In this work, the performance of NMT/KPS process as a hybrid advanced oxidation process has been studied for degradation of organic compound. To this aim, nitrophenol has been used as a typical aromatic compound, which is widely used in industries as an organic toxic precursor. The NMT photo-catalyst was synthesised and characterised by TEM, EDS, XRD and VSM. The characterisation results showed that the catalyst had been synthesised with a particle size of 29 nm and paramagnetic properties. The process was performed in a bench scale glassware photoreactor with 1 l volume. In order to find the optimum condition of the process, the effects of various parameters such as pH, NMT dosage and KPS concentration were modelled and optimised by using design of experiment as a statistical method. The results showed that in the optimum condition by using the NMT dosage of 100 ppm, KPS concentration of 150 ppm, and pH 4, a degradation efficiency of about 89% was achieved for nitrophenol initial concentration of 20 ppm after 60 min. Also, electrical energy consumption was considered as an important industrial criterion that in the optimum condition with rate constant of 0.0479 (1/min), 150 W light source and 1 l of volume, the electrical energy consumption is calculated as 120.2 kWh/m3.

An Overview on Composite Sorbents Based on Polyelectrolytes Used in Advanced Wastewater Treatment.

Advanced wastewater treatment processes are required to implement wastewater reuse in agriculture or industry, the efficient removal of targeted priority and emerging organic & inorganic pollutants being compulsory (due to their eco-toxicological and human health effects, bio-accumulative, and degradation characteristics). Various processes such as membrane separations, adsorption, advanced oxidation, filtration, disinfection may be used in combination with one or more conventional treatment stages, but technical and environmental criteria are important to assess their application. Natural and synthetic polyelectrolytes combined with some inorganic materials or other organic or inorganic polymers create new materials (composites) that are currently used in sorption of toxic pollutants. The recent developments on the synthesis and characterization of composites based on polyelectrolytes, divided according to their macroscopic shape—beads, core-shell, gels, nanofibers, membranes—are discussed, and a correlation of their actual structure and properties with the adsorption mechanisms and removal efficiencies of various pollutants in aqueous media (priority and emerging pollutants or other model pollutants) are presented.

Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles-supported Cu(II) complex: An efficient and reusable nanocatalyst for treating environmental pollutants in aqueous medium

The present research aims to design and produce a unique and magnetically rectifiable catalyst through immobilizing copper(II) over the Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) surface. The fabricated catalysts were determined as VSM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, TG-DTG, and FESEM procedures. The prepared catalyst demonstrated superior catalytic performance in the reduction of Cr(VI) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and degradation of organic dyes like methylene blue (MB) and congo red (CR) in aqueous media. Remarkable attributes of this method are high efficiency, removal of a homogeneous catalyst, easy recovery from the reaction mixture, and uncomplicated route. The amount of activity in this catalytic system after several stages of recovery and reuse was almost constant. In general, NaBH4 induced degradation/reduction of MB, CR, and 4-NP, and formic acidinduced reduction of chromium(VI) to chromium(III) catalyzed with prepared catalyst within a very short time. Moreover, compared to related research, this catalyst showed less reaction time.

Production of Pd nanoparticles embedded on micro-sized chitosan/graphitic carbon nitride hybrid spheres for treatment of environmental pollutants in aqueous medium

The presence of various organic contaminants such as toxic nitro compounds and dyes in water/wastewater poses a major problem for the environment and human health. Therefore, the treatments of these pollutants are of vital importance. For this aim, a novel heterogeneous catalyst system, in which Pd nanoparticles were immobilized on micro sized chitosan-g-C3N4 hybrid spheres was developed, and its nano-sized structure was confirmed by SEM, EDS, XRD, FT-IR, TG and TEM analyses (Pd-CS-g-C3N4). Then the catalytic potential of Pd-CS-g-C3N4 was evaluated against the reduction of various organic pollutants such as 4-nitro toluene (4-NT), 2-nitroanilin (2-NA), 4-nitroanilin (4-NA), 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 3-nitrophenol (3-NP), 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine (4-NPD), 4-nitrobenzoic acid (4-NBA), 4-nitrobenzaldehyde (4-NBZA), methyl orange (MO), methylene blue (MB), congo red (CR), and methyl red (MR) in aqueous solution at room temperature by using NaBH4. The catalytic performance tests showed that Pd-CS-g-C3N4 nanocatalyst effectively catalyzed both nitro compound and organic dye reductions within very short reaction time. Furthermore, Pd-CS-g-C3N4 nanocatalyst was reused many times by preserving both its chemical structure and activity.

Oligothiophene-Naphthalimide Hybrids Connected through Rigid and Conjugated Linkers in Organic Electronics: An Overview

In this article, we summarize the synthetic approaches developed in our research groups during the last decade to efficiently tune the optical, electrochemical and morphological characteristics of oligothiophene–naphthalimide assemblies. Different variables were tuned in these organic semiconductors, such as the planarity and the length of their π-conjugated backbones, the topology and energy levels of the frontier molecular orbitals (HOMO and LUMO) and their molecular dipole moments. The tuning of these properties can be connected with the microstructure properties observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) in thin films as well as with the performances in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). The possibility of incorporating these donor-acceptor assemblies into macromolecular structures is also addressed, and some innovative applications for these macromolecular systems, such as the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous media, are also presented.

Two Fascinating Polysaccharides: Chitosan and Starch. Some Prominent Characterizations for Applying as Eco-Friendly Food Packaging and Pollutant Remover in Aqueous Medium. Progress in Recent Years: A Review.

The call to use biodegradable, eco-friendly materials is urgent. The use of biopolymers as a replacement for the classic petroleum-based materials is increasing. Chitosan and starch have been widely studied with this purpose: to be part of this replacement. The importance of proper physical characterization of these biopolymers is essential for the intended application. This review focuses on characterizations of chitosan and starch, approximately from 2017 to date, in one of their most-used applications: food packaging for chitosan and as an adsorbent agent of pollutants in aqueous medium for starch.

Fundamentals and applications of photoelectrocatalysis as an efficient process to remove pollutants from water: A review

Water pollution is an environmental problem in constant raising because of population growing, industrial development, agricultural frontier expansion, and principally because of the lack of wastewater treatment technology to remove organic recalcitrant and toxic pollutants from industrial and domestic wastewater. Recalcitrant compounds are a serious environmental and health problem mainly due to their toxicity and potential hazardous effects on living organisms, including human beings. Conventional wastewater treatments have not been able to remove efficiently pollutants from water; however, electrochemical advanced oxidation processes (EAOPs) are able to solve this environmental concern. One of the most recent EAOPs technology is photoelectrocatalysis (PEC), it consists in applying an external bias potential to a semiconductor film placed over a conductive substrate to avoid the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole (e−/h+) pairs, increasing h+ availability and hydroxyl radicals’ formation, responsible for promoting the degradation/mineralization of organic pollutants in aqueous medium. This review summarizes the recent advances in PEC as a promising technology for wastewater treatment. It addresses the fundamentals and kinetic aspects of PEC. An analysis of photoanode materials and of the configuration of photoelectrochemical reactors is also presented, including an analysis of the influence of the main operational parameters on the treatment of contaminated water. Finally, the most recent applications of PEC are reviewed, and the challenges and perspectives of PEC in wastewater treatment are discussed.

Removal of five pharmaceutical products classified as emerging pollutants in aqueous medium using the vetiver species (Chrysopogon zizanioides)

Los productos farmacéuticos constituyen un grupo único de contaminantes emergentes de gran interés, debido a que se ha determinado su presencia frecuente en aguas superficiales, subterráneas y agua potable. Debido al metabolismo y la absorción incompletos en el organismo humano, una cantidad significativa de estos fármacos se excretan y liberan al ambiente a través de las aguas residuales. Por lo que el objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el potencial de la especie vetiver (Chrysopogon zizanioides) para eliminar del medio acuoso cinco productos farmacéuticos comúnmente recetados y de venta libre como ciprofloxacina, ibuprofeno, sulfametaxazol, diclofenaco y acetaminofén. La especie fue aclimatada en invernado, donde se llevó a cabo los experimentos en condiciones controladas de temperatura y a un pH de 6,5. Las muestras fueron analizadas utilizando espectrofotometría UV-Vis para leer en forma directa las absorbancias de cada producto farmacéutico. Para el análisis estadístico de los datos se empleó la metodología de superficies de respuesta con el fin de encontrar los modelos que ayuden a determinar tiempos y concentraciones óptimas donde se maximiza la absorción de cada fármaco, así como la obtención de las pendientes de crecimiento para determinar hacia donde se deberá buscar el óptimo. Se utilizó el software estadístico R versión 3.6.0 y RStudio versión 1.1.453. Los resultados obtenidos indican que C. zizanioides removió de manera más eficiente ciprofloxacina (98,3%) a una concentración de 3mg/L en un tiempo de 149h, seguido por ibuprofeno y diclofenaco con un máximo de remoción de 73,33% y sulfametaxazol con 66,53%, obteniéndose el menor porcentaje de remoción para acetaminofén de 38,49% a las 192h, donde se realizó toma de muestras cada 48 horas de las soluciones de cada fármaco a diferentes concentraciones (3 mg/L, 6 mg/L, 9 mg/L, 12 mg/L). En este trabajo de investigación se demostró la capacidad removedora de Chrysopogon zizanioides de los cinco fármacos estudiados en medio acuoso en condiciones controladas, vislumbrando un gran potencial en el ámbito de la biotecnología ambiental para el tratamiento terciario de aguas residuales.

Hydroxyapatite as an advanced adsorbent for removal of heavy metal ions from water: Focus on its applications and limitations

Adsorbent materials are known to have favorable surface physico-chemical features that enable them to bind to different pollutants in aqueous medium. Complexity in wastewater generation due to presence of diversified nature of pollutants demand enhanced performance from adsorbent materials. An advanced adsorbent requires greater selectivity, enhanced performance in adsorption capacity over a wide range of pH and pollutant concentration as well as faster kinetics. The economics of the treatment process depend not only on the cost efficiency of the synthesis of the adsorbent material but also on the regeneration capacity of the used adsorbent. Hydroxyapatite derived either from synthetic or biogenic waste resources have demonstrated suitable physical and chemical properties that have enabled it for faster and greater efficiency for binding to different pollutants. Its major constituent being calcium and phosphorus, hydroxyapatite is a biomaterial, is biocompatible and is non-toxic in nature. The present review has discussed on the properties of hydroxyapatite as an advanced adsorbent material in the context of its performance for removal of metal ion pollutants from not only a single metal ion suspension but also from multi-metal ion solution. The high specificity of hydroxyapatite is also highlighted during its application as an adsorbent. The major highlights of this review are on the limitations for use of hydroxyapatite as an advanced adsorbent. Current research work undertaken to curtail some of its limitations is also discussed.

Solar light degradation of organic dye pollutants and preparation of bis(indolyl)methanes using core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2@CuO nanocomposite.

In this research, a new ferromagnetic-recoverable core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2@CuO nanocomposite of a certain size (20-25 nm) has been synthesized based on Cu(II) complex coated on Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles by facile and fast solid state microwave irradiation method. The photocatalytic activity of the nanocomposite was investigated for degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dye pollutants in aqueous media under solar light irradiation. The nanocomposite could destroy these dyes with high efficiency in short time. With comparison of degradation percentages can be concluded that the nanocomposite shows better photocatalytic activity for MB dye (97% in 180 s). Kinetic study revealed higher rate constant for degradation of MB (k= 3.6×10-3 s-1) with pseudozero-order model. Also, Fe3O4@SiO2@CuO nanocomposite was an efficient magnetically recoverable catalyst for the preparation of bis(indolyl)methanes (BIMs) through the condensation of an aldehyde with 2 equivalents of indole in EtOH/H2O as green solvents.

An Overview on Graphene-Metal Oxide Semiconductor Nanocomposite: A Promising Platform for Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity for the Treatment of Various Pollutants in Aqueous Medium.

Graphene is one of the most favorite materials for materials science research owing to its distinctive chemical and physical properties, such as superior conductivity, extremely larger specific surface area, and good mechanical/chemical stability with the flexible monolayer structure. Graphene is considered as a supreme matrix and electron arbitrator of semiconductor nanoparticles for environmental pollution remediation. The present review looks at the recent progress on the graphene-based metal oxide and ternary composites for photocatalysis application, especially for the application of the environmental remediation. The challenges and perspectives of emerging graphene-based metal oxide nanocomposites for photocatalysis are also discussed.

KATKILANDIRILMIŞ TiO2 FOTOKATALİZÖRLERİNİN HAZIRLANMASI VE GÜNEŞ IŞIĞI ALTINDA DEKOLORİZASYON VERİMLİLİKLERİ

Photocatalysis has gained a great interest for the degradation of organic pollutants in aqueous media. This effective advanced oxidation technique is basically based on the oxidation of the target molecule by hydroxyl radicals. The most widely preferred and powerful photocatalyst is titanium dioxide (TiO2), but it has limited use under solar light because of its band gap energy. This is a major drawback for various possible applications. In order to overcome this disadvantage, doping the photocatalyst with metals and non-metals to narrow the band gap can be applied. In this work, we have prepared visible light active photocatalysts by using wet-impregnation method. Decolorization of two different classes of dyes, Rhodamine B and Congo Red, was carried out under simulated solar light with doped TiO2. The photocatalytic performances of non-metal doped (C, N, Se), metal doped (Cu, Fe) and codoped (N/S) TiO2 photocatalysts were investigated by UV-vis studies and removal percentage calculations.

Green fabrication of reduced graphene oxide decorated with Ag nanoparticles (rGO/Ag NPs) nanocomposite: A reusable catalyst for the degradation of environmental pollutants in aqueous medium

In this current work, a bio-inspired green approach has been followed to synthesize Ag nanoparticles (NPs), which were immobilized over reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a suitable support. In the stepwise preparation of the bionanocomposite (rGO/Ag NPs) by using Menthapulegium flower extract, initially graphene oxide (GO) was reduced to rGO followed by in situ reduction of Ag+ ions to Ag NPs. In these reductions, different biomolecules such as, polyphenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids and mild acids were employed as the natural reductant. The oxygenated functions in the aforementioned biomolecules, efficiently, assisted the capping and stabilizing the AgNPs. The as-synthesized nanocomposite was fully characterized using different techniques such as, UV–Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), wavelength dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (WDX) elemental mapping, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and inductively coupled plasma (ICP). Diameter of the biosynthesized Ag NPs were found to be in the range of 20–25 nm. The constituent elements were found to be homogeneously dispersed as found from elemental mapping study. This novel prepared nano-composite showed excellent water dispersibility due to the hydrophilicity of biomolecules attached to them, which is essential criterion in heterogeneous catalysis. This composite was used as an effective catalyst in the reductive degradation of water contaminated by organic dyes such as methyl Orange (MO) and rhodamin B (RhB) using NaBH4 as reductive agent at room temperature. The progress of reduction was monitored by UV–Vis spectroscopy. Both the reactions followed pseudo-unimolecular kinetics and the corresponding rate constants were found being 0.098 s−1 and 0.096 s−1 respectively. The material was significantly robust as justified by the leaching as well as hot-filtration tests and its reusability for several times without any appreciable loss in its activity.

APPLICATION OF SODIUM TITANATE BASED NANOMATERIALS FOR DYE ADSORPTION

The application of sodium titanium-based nanomaterials for the adsorption of dyes deserves to be invested by an innovative and low-cost technique. Also, contamination of effluents by used dyes can cause damage and public health due to their toxicity and recalcitrance. So, an end of environmental impact impacted by these effluents, it is necessary or the development of new technologies of removal. An alternative to remedy this problem is found in the application of the adsorption technique through the use of sodium titanium nanomaterials. These factors do not have surface areas, spaces between and charge transfer rates of efficient interfaces, or what significantly increases the adsorbents. Thus, the present work aimed to synthesize sodium titanium nanomaterials and to investigate their use for the removal of dyes or gum from the aqueous medium. The materials were synthesized using the hydrothermal method, without the use of a structured guide, using titanium dioxide as the starting material in the alkaline medium (10M NaOH). These materials were studied, using their use in the removal of organic pollutants in aqueous medium, where it verified the formation of fibrillar morphology for all the materials used. Through the X-ray diffraction technique, it was confirmed the establishment of four crystallographic phases of lamellar titanates, predominantly, of disodium titanate, with monoclinic symmetry. In short, the results proved that there was a formation of titanate nanomaterials. Tests to remove methylene blue are promising for the adsorptive activity of the captured materials concerning the starting oxide, removing up to 81% of the dye in 30 min. Titanium nanomaterials are efficient to remedy aquatic ecosystems contaminated by this organic pollutant; in addition, the collected data become a reference for future studies.

Nanoparticle-based 'turn-on' scattering and post-sample fluorescence for ultrasensitive detection of water pollution in wider window.

Ultrasensitive detection of heavy metal ions in available water around us is a great challenge for scientists since long time. We developed an optical technique that combines Rayleigh scattering of UV light (365 nm) and post-sample fluorescence detection from colloidal silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) having a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 420 nm. The efficacy of the technique is tested by the detection of several model toxic ions, including mercury, lead, and methylmercury in aqueous media. The light scattering from the Hg-included/inflated Ag NPs at 395 nm was observed to saturate the light sensor even with ppm-order concentrations of Hg ions in the water sample. However, the pollutant is not detected at lower concentrations at this wavelength. Instead, the fluorescence of a high-pass filter (cut-off at 400 nm) at 520 nm is applied to detect pollutant concentrations of up to several hundreds of ppm in the water sample. We also detected lead and methylmercury as model pollutants in aqueous media and validated the efficacy of our strategy. Finally, we report the development of a working prototype based on the strategy developed for efficient detection of pollutants in drinking/agricultural water.

Laser-assisted preparation of Pd nanoparticles on carbon cloth for the degradation of environmental pollutants in aqueous medium.

Laser ablation in liquid (LAL), one of the attractive methods for fabrication of nanoparticles, was used for the modification of carbon cloth (CC) by deposition of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs); a simple stirring method was deployed to deposit Pd NPs on the CC surface. Characterization techniques viz X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) were applied to study the surface of the ensuing samples which confirmed that LAL technique managed to fabricate and deposit the Pd NPs on the surface of CC. In addition, the catalytic prowess of the carbon cloth-Pd NPs (CC/Pd NPs) was investigated in the NaBH4- or HCOOH-assisted reduction of assorted environmental pollutants in aqueous medium namely hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)], 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), congo red (CR) and methylene blue (MB). The CC/Pd NPs system has advantages such as high stability/sustainability, high catalytic performance and easy reusability.

Photocatalytic activity of Yb, Er, Ce‐codoped TiO2 for degradation of Rhodamine B and 4‐chlorophenol

AbstractBACKGROUNDPhotodegradation through an advanced oxidation process gives promising prospects for environmental protection. Although titanium dioxide (TiO2) is considered as an excellent photonic material candidate, however, the band gap of TiO2 is 3.2 eV which limits its effective applications. Various approaches have been developed for enhancing the utilization of TiO2 such as coupling with other narrow bandgap semiconductors and metal ions. We developed a novel ytterbium (Yb), erbium (Er), cerium (Ce)‐codoped TiO2 material as a high‐performance photocatalyst for efficient degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) and 4‐chlorophenol (4‐CP) by hydrothermal technique. Yb, Er, and Ce ions served as electron collectors for the interfacial electrons transferred from TiO2, thus enhancing the separation of the photo‐induced electron–hole pairs.RESULTSThe photocatalytic activity of the prepared TiO2–Er0.15Yb0.15Ce0.14 sample is higher than those of undoped TiO2, TiO2–Ce0.3 and TiO2–Er0.15Yb0.15 samples under optimal condition. Our developed catalyst degraded 98% of 0.04 mM RhB and 95% of 0.6 mM 4‐CP under white light irradiation for 60 and 240 min, respectively. Moreover, a probable photodegradation mechanism is proposed.CONCLUSIONTiO2–Er0.15Yb0.15Ce0.14 with high photocatalytic degradation efficiency under white light irradiation was synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Yb3+, Er3+, Ce4+ played a role as photo‐induced electron collectors to suppress the recombination of photo‐induced electron–hole pairs. The synthesized material has a high potential as an efficient photocatalyst for toxic pollutants in aqueous media. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry