Photocatalytic activity of perovskite SrTiO ₃ catalysts doped with variable rare earth ions

In this work, 15 types of rare earth (Re) ions, including Y 3+ , La 3+ , Ce 3+ , Pr 3+ , Nd 3+ , Sm 3+ , Eu 3+ , Gd 3+ , Tb 3+ , Dy 3+ , Ho 3+ , Er 3+ , Tm 3+ , Yb 3+ and Lu 3+ doped perovskite SrTiO 3 powders were synthesized by sol–gel method. The influence of Re ions doping on the crystal structure, morphology and optical property as well as the photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated in detail when the synthesized Re ions doped SrTiO 3 powders were served as catalysts. The presented results revealed that the crystal structure is invariable, whereas the morphology and the optical bandgap are variable for the resultant SrTiO 3 powders when different Re ions were incorporated into the SrTiO 3 lattice. The relatedness between the morphology, optical property and photocatalytic activity of the synthesized SrTiO 3 catalysts doped with variable Re ions were analyzed deeply, providing an insight into the influence factors on the photocatalytic activity of catalysts.