Effect of RE doping on photocatalytic properties of TiO_2 thin film

The rare-earth-doped titanium thin films on glass surface were prepared by sol-gel method.The structure and morphology of titanium thin films were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction(XRD) and atomic force microscopy(AFM). The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by degradation of methylene blue under UV light radiation.The influence of variant doping amount of lanthanum(La),cerium(Ce),calcination temperature on the photocatalytic properties of La and Ce doping titanium thin film were studied.The results show that La doping will restrain the transform of anatase structure to rutile structure,and La and Ce doping exibit the most optimum concentration and the most suitable calcination temperature.