Radiation-induced luminescence from sol-gel anatase TiO2 by 10Â keV O+ irradiation

Radiation-induced luminescence by 10 keV O+ ion irradiation has been used to study photon emission from sol-gel derived anatase TiO2. The visible band at 2.3 eV and the UV band at 3.8 eV were observed. The UV band was excited by direct transitions generated by ion irradiation. Sol-gel anatase TiO2 reabsorbs the photons with energies higher than the band-gap (3.2 eV) and we suggest it to react as a photocatalyst by ion irradiation.