Enhanced photocatalytic performance of SrTiO3 powder induced by europium dopants

In this work, Eu 3+ doped SrTiO 3 powders were synthesized by sol-gel method and the influences of Eu 3+ dopants on the crystalline structure, microstructure morphology, electronic band-gap and photocatalytic performance for degradation of organic pollutant were investigated in detail. Research results reveal that the incorporated Eu 3+ ions in SrTiO 3 lattice are preferable to substitute the Sr 2+ -Ti 4+ ions pair by two Eu 3+ ions. The presence of Eu 3+ ions plays a significant role for the microstructure morphology of the SrTiO 3 powders, leading to the formation of smaller size nanoparticles with a higher specific surface area . The light absorption capability of the resulting materials is improved owing to the narrowing of the band-gap induced by Eu 3+ dopants . As a result, the enhanced photocatalytic activity application for photodegradation of Rhodamine B solution is demonstrated for the SrTiO 3 powders doped with Eu 3+ ions.