Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B under UV irradiation over anatase TiO2:Ln3+ nanoparticles

TiO 2 :Ln 3+ (Ln 3+ : Ce 3+ , Yb 3+ and Sm 3+ ) nanoparticles were prepared by solgel method under laboratory ambient conditions by using titanium tetraisopropoxide (C 12 H 28 O 4 Ti) as the TiO 2 source and template, and the as-synthetized samples were characterized by XRD and UV-vis DRS techniques. XRD patterns shows that the as- prepared nanomaterials exhibit tetragonal anatase-phase. The photoactivity of the synthetized catalysts was tested in the photocatalytic degradation of a Rhodamine B solution exposed to the following radiation wavelenghts (254 nm, 350 nm, 365 nm, and 385 nm). UV-vis espectroscopy analysis of the samples was used to estimate the band gap energy of the samples.