Spindle-like porous N-doped TiO2 encapsulated (Ca,Y)F2:Yb3+,Tm3+ as the efficient photocatalyst near-infrared range

Lu Wang; Chaoqun Xia; Tai Yang; Hongshui Wang; Ning Liu; Chunyong Liang

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ab442d

Spindle-like porous N-doped TiO₂ encapsulated (Ca,Y)F₂:Yb³⁺,Tm³⁺ as the efficient photocatalyst near-infrared range

Nanotechnology. 2020 Jan 10;31(2):025601. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab442d. Epub 2019 Sep 13.

Authors

Lu Wang¹, Chaoqun Xia, Tai Yang, Hongshui Wang, Ning Liu, Chunyong Liang

Affiliation

¹ School of Material Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, People's Republic of China. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 31518998
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ab442d

Abstract

In this study, a novel photocatalyst composed of N-doped TiO₂ (N-TiO₂) and (Ca, Y)F₂:Yb³⁺, Tm³⁺ was prepared by simple dealloying followed by a hydrothermal method. The composite exhibits a homogeneous nanoporous structure consisting of large quantities of the spindle-like N-doped TiO₂ nanorods, on which the (Ca, Y)F₂:Yb³⁺, Tm³⁺ particles with a diameter of around 5 nm are uniformly dispersed. In addition, morphology and property of the N-TiO₂ can be controlled by adjusting the dealloying period. Results show that a short immersion time leads to a small size, large surface area and low band gap. As a result, the N-TiO₂/(Ca, Y)F₂:Yb³⁺, Tm³⁺ composite after dealloying for 48 h (TiO₂-48-C) exhibits higher degradation rates (65.6% for 10 h irradiation by 980 nm NIR) than others after dealloying for 60 h (TiO₂-60-C) and 72 h (TiO₂-72-C), indicating its excellent potential for practical applications.