Preparation and Photocatalytic Activity of Nd3+and CTAB Co-Doped Nanometer TiO2 Thin Films

Pure TiO₂, Nd³⁺doped TiO₂ and Nd ³⁺-CTAB co-doped TiO₂ nanometer thin films were prepared by the sol-gel technique with tetrabutyl titanate and neodymium nitrate as raw materials and surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as template. The films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Visible absorbance spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange. The results show that the all samples calcined at 500^oC are all anatase, and there are slight red shifts of the Nd³⁺doped TiO₂ and Nd³⁺-CTAB co-doped TiO₂ films compared with pure TiO₂ films and the red shift of Nd ³⁺-CTAB co-doped TiO₂ is more obvious than that of Nd ³⁺ doped TiO₂, which is beneficial to improve the photocatalytic efficiency. The1.0% Nd³⁺-CTAB co-doped TiO₂ nanometer film calcined at 500°C had excellent photocatalytic efficiencies and the degradation rate of the film is more than 90% after 120 min.