Visible-light driven photocatalyzing degradation of antibiotics and dyes enabled by 0D/1D Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2@C hybrids

It remains a huge challenge to design a kind of high performance, multifunctional and low cost photocatalysts driven by visible light for the remediation of pollutants from waste water. In this work, the carbon coated Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 nanotubes (Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 @C) 0D/1D hybrid photocatalysts were synthesized by a microwave hydrothermal method. Essentially, the Er 2 O 3 nanoparticles can absorb low-energy photons at 800–980 nm and emit high-energy photons to TiO 2 through the up-conversion effect, meanwhile, the Tb 2 O 3 act as a redox center to promote the separation of photoinduction charges since the instantaneous photoelectric density was increased by 10 times by compared to TiO 2 @C. As a result, the photodegradation efficiency of the optimized Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 @C photocatalysts is about 15.7 times higher than that of TiO 2 @C under visible light irradiation for decomposing rhodamine B, respectively. Moreover, the photodegradation efficiency remained above 70 % after reused for 5 times. Thus, the enhanced synergistic effect between Er 2 O 3 and Tb 2 O 3 promises the excellent photodegradation activity and reduce cost. It remains a huge challenge to design a kind of high performance, multifunctional and low cost photocatalysts driven by visible light for the remediation of pollutants from waste water. The carbon coated Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 nanotubes (Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 @C) 0D/1D hybrids were synthesized by a microwave hydrothermal method. The Er 2 O 3 nanoparticles can absorb low-energy photons at 800–980 nm and emit high-energy photons to TiO 2 through the up-conversion effect, meanwhile, the Tb 2 O 3 act as a redox center to promote the separation of photoinduction charges since the instantaneous photoelectric density was increased by 10 times by compared to TiO 2 @C. As a result, the photodegradation efficiency of the optimized Tb 2 O 3 /Er 2 O 3 /TiO 2 @C photocatalysts is about 15.7 times higher than that of TiO 2 @C under visible light irradiation for decomposing rhodamine B. Moreover, the photodegradation efficiency remained above 70 % after reused for 5 times. Thus, the enhanced synergistic effect between Er 2 O 3 and Tb 2 O 3 promises the excellent photodegradation activity and reduce cost.