Enhancement of ZnO Photocatalysis by Lu3Al5O12:Ce3+ Down-Conversion

摘要

Exploring visible light responsive media remains a challenge for solar energy photocatalysis application. In this paper, we report that Lu3Al5O12: Ce3+ phosphors with 3 wt.% Ce3+ as co-catalysts significantly enhances the visible light photocatalytic activity of ZnO, and the degradation rate of methylene blue and Rhodamine B reaches similar to 94% and similar to 90% respectively under visible light irradiation. The Ce3+ ion plays an important role in enhancement of visible light photocatalytic activity of ZnO. The catalytic enhancement is realized mainly by light down-conversion of Lu3Al5O12: Ce3+ due to the different Ce(3+)doped content, which greatly facilitates the self-sensitized destruction of dyes.