A facile sol–gel method for synthesis of porous Nd-doped TiO2 monolith with enhanced photocatalytic activity under UV–Vis irradiation

• Porous Nd-doped TiO2 monolith was synthesized using polystyrene spheres as a template by a facile sol-gel method.
• Nd doping can suppress the recombination of hole/electron pairs leading to the extended photo-produced-carrier lifetime.
• The porous structure can provide a large surface area, facilitating enhanced adsorption and fast transfer of pollutants.

A porous Nd-doped TiO2 monolith was successfully synthesized with polystyrene spheres as a template using a sol–gel method followed by calcination at high temperature. The porous Nd-doped TiO2 monolith was characterized by X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller measurements. Nd doping can increase the TiO2 surface area by hindering the growth of large TiO2 particles, and suppressing the recombination of photo-produced hole/electron (h+/e−) pairs. Moreover, its porous structure can provide a large surface area, facilitating enhanced adsorption and fast transfer of pollutants. To evaluate the photocatalytic activity of the porous Nd-doped TiO2 monolith, the photo-degradation for methyl orange was investigated under UV–Vis irradiation. The porous 0.5% Nd-doped TiO2 monolith showed better behavior than the other as-prepared samples and Degussa P25 due to its narrow band gap, high efficiency for h+/e− pair separation, and large surface area. The synergistic combination of Nd doping and the porous structure is a promising material design strategy for use in the degradation of organic pollutants.

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