Synthesis of Sc and V-doped TiO2 nanoparticles and photodegradation of rhodamine-B

Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles doped with Sc and V were synthesized and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated through the photodegradation of rhodamine-B under UV irradiation. TiO2 shows the highest photocatalytic activity and Sc doped TiO2 and V doped TiO2 show lower photocatalytic activity than TiO2. In contrast, Sc and V codoped TiO2 shows no any photocatalytic activity. The reasons for the decrease in photocatalytic activity is due to the presence of surficial Sc2O3 islands covering the reactive sites for Sc doped TiO2 and the increased e−/h+ pair recombination resulted from the high level substitutional V(IV) ions for V doped TiO2, respectively.