The photo-catalytic activities of neodymium and fluorine doped TiO2 nanoparticles

A series of photo-catalysts were synthesized by neodymium and fluorine doped TiO2, and their characteristics evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV–vis), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Neodymium and fluorine doped TiO2 has obvious absorption in the visible light and the absorption edge shifts toward red wavelength. In addition, compared with pure TiO2, the doped catalyst has intense absorption at 528, 587, 750, 808, and 881 nm. The catalytic efficiency was tested by monitoring the photo-catalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) in visible light and ultraviolet light. The results showed that the optimum doping content was Nd:F:TiO2 = 0.5:5:100 (molar ratio) heat treated at 500 °C, and the reaction rates of MB degradation were estimated to be about 1.76 times and 1.45 times higher than undoped TiO2 in ultraviolet light and visible light.