A hydrothermal synthesis of Pr3+ doped mesoporous TiO2 for UV light photocatalysis

Pr3+ doped mesoporous TiO2 photocatalysts with a different molar ratio of Pr to Ti were prepared by a hydrothermal method using triblock copolymer as the template. The as-prepared samples were systematically characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectra, transmission electron microscopy and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The characterizations indicated all the samples had mesoporous structure and narrow pore size distribution. Pr3+ doping enlarged the surface area and decreased the crystallite size. The surface area of the samples varied from 136 to 170 m2/g, and the average crystallite size ranged between 5.04 and 7.60 nm. The effect of Pr3+ doping amount on the photocatalytic activity of mesoporous TiO2 was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange under UV light irradiation. The results showed that the suitable amount of Pr3+ doped samples exhibited the higher photocatalytic activity than mesoporous TiO2. Among the samples, 1 at.% Pr3+ doped mesoporous TiO2 showed the highest photocatalytic activity.