Evidence of upconversion luminescence contribution to the improved photoactivity of erbium doped TiO2 systems.
Er(3+)-TiO(2) synthesized by a surfactant free hydrothermal method exhibits good photoactivities under sun-like excitation for the degradation of phenol. The presence of Er(3+) does not affect the structural and morphological features of the TiO(2) significantly. The best photocatalytic performance was attained for the samples with 2 wt% of Er. Different photocatalytic runs indicated that the incorporation of the Er(3+) cation would be responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activity, which participates in different mechanisms under UV and NIR excitation.
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla, Centro Mixto Universidad de Sevilla-CSIC.C/Américo Vespucio, 49, 41092 Sevilla, Spain.
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