Observation of simultaneous photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen evolution on the lanthanum modified TiO2 nanostructures

Abstract The simultaneous photocatalytic degradation of dye-polluted water and hydrogen production has been demonstrated on the lanthanum-modified TiO 2 (La-TiO 2 ) nanostructures. The observed changes in the X-ray diffraction pattern of La-TiO 2 with respect to pristine-TiO 2 indicated the incorporation of La into the lattices of TiO 2 . The surface adsorption analysis and electron microscopy images revealed the enhanced surface area with spherical and rod-like morphology for TiO 2 and La-TiO 2 respectively. The observed red-shift in the absorption spectrum and the estimated band-gap energy indicated that the La-doping sufficiently altered the band-structure of TiO 2 to absorb visible light. The calculated band-edge positions revealed that La doping suitably altered the band-edge potential of TiO 2 for the simultaneous degradation and hydrogen production.