A mini-review on rare earth metal-doped TiO2 for photocatalytic remediation of wastewater

Saqib, Najm us; Adnan, Rohana; Shāh, ʻIrfān

A mini-review on rare earth metal-doped TiO2 for photocatalytic remediation of wastewater

2016

Saqib, Najm us | Adnan, Rohana | Shāh, ʻIrfān

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) has been considered a useful material for the treatment of wastewater due to its non-toxic character, chemical stability and excellent electrical and optical properties which contribute in its wide range of applications, particularly in environmental remediation technology. However, the wide band gap of TiO₂ photocatalyst (anatase phase, 3.20 eV) limits its photocatalytic activity to the ultraviolet region of light. Besides that, the electron-hole pair recombination has been found to reduce the efficiency of the photocatalyst. To overcome these problems, tailoring of TiO₂ surface with rare earth metals to improve its surface, optical and photocatalytic properties has been investigated by many researchers. The surface modifications with rare earth metals proved to enhance the efficiency of TiO₂ photocatalyts by way of reducing the band gap by shifting the working wavelength to the visible region and inhibiting the anatase-to-rutile phase transformations. This review paper summarises the attempts on modification of TiO₂ using rare earth metals describing their effect on the photocatalytic activities of the modified TiO₂ photocatalyst.

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