Effectofsamarium dopant on photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nano-particle for the degradation of reactive orange 4

TiO2 is an ideal material for catalytic technology due to its unique properties. In this paper, the effect of Sm3+ dopant on the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 was studied to improve the catalytic efficiency of TiO2. The Sm3+-TiO2 photocatalyst was made from Titanium Tetrabutoxide and Samarium Oxide with the Sol-Gel process and used to degrade reactive orange 4 (RO4) in Azo Dyes. The characteristics of the catalyst was analyzed with XRD and TEM. The experimental results show that the catalyst has high activity for the degradation of Azo Dyes. The intensity of characteristic peaks of RO4 at both 489 nm and 285 nm weakens as the increase in the catalytic time. The Azo bonds of RO4 are more active, so that they are easily broken by oxidation. The catalytic activity of the Sm3+ doped catalyst greatly depends on the pH of solution. The catalyst has higher photo-catalytic activity at both neutral and alkaline conditions. The degradation mechanism of the Sm3+ doped TiO2 photo-catalyst was also analyzed.