Nitrate-assisted photocatalytic efficiency of defective Eu-doped Pr(OH)(3) nanostructures
2017
Authors
Askrabic, S.Araujo, V. D.
Passacantando, M.
Bernardi, M. I. B.
Tomić, N.
Dojčinović, Biljana

Manojlović, Dragan

Calija, B.

Miletic, M.
Dohcevic-Mitrovic, Z. D.
Article (Accepted Version)
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Pr(OH)(3) one-dimensional nanostructures are a less studied member of lanthanide hydroxide nanostructures, which recently demonstrated an excellent adsorption capacity for organic pollutant removal from wastewater. In this study, Pr1-xEux(OH)(3) (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) defective nanostructures were synthesized by a facile and scalable microwave-assisted hydrothermal method using KOH as an alkaline metal precursor. The phase and surface composition, morphology, vibrational, electronic and optical properties of the as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman, infrared (IR), photoluminescence (PL), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). It was deduced that the incorporation of Eu3+ ions promoted the formation of oxygen vacancies in the already defecti...ve Pr(OH)(3), subsequently changing the Pr(OH)(3) nanorod morphology. The presence of KNO3 phase was registered in the Eu-doped samples. The oxygendeficient Eu-doped Pr(OH)(3) nanostructures displayed an improved photocatalytic activity in the removal of reactive orange (RO16) dye under UV-vis light irradiation. An enhanced photocatalytic activity of the Eu-doped Pr(OH)(3) nanostructures was caused by the synergetic effect of oxygen vacancies and Eu3+ (NO3-) ions present on the Pr(OH)(3) surface, the charge separation efficiency and the formation of the reactive radicals. In addition, the 3% Eu-doped sample exhibited very good adsorptive properties due to different morphology and higher electrostatic attraction with the anionic dye. Pr1-xEux(OH)(3) nanostructures with the possibility of tuning their adsorption/photocatalytic properties present a great potential for wastewater treatment.
Source:
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2017, 19, 47, 31756-31765Publisher:
- Royal Soc Chemistry, Cambridge
Projects:
- Physics of nanostructured oxide materials and strongly correlated systems (RS-171032)
- Nanostructured multifunctional materials and nanocomposites (RS-45018)
- Brazilian agency CNPq
- Brazilian agency FAPESP
- Brazilian agency FACEPE
Note:
- This is a peer-reviewed version of the article: https://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7CP06440C
- http://cer.ihtm.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/2120
DOI: 10.1039/c7cp06440c
ISSN: 1463-9076
PubMed: 29167854