Abstract
This research studied the degradation of macromolecular lignin in aqueous environments catalyzed by rare earth doped titania nonorods (RE-TiO2 NRs) under simulated sunlight irradiation. In this work, we developed a two-step process to synthesize the RE-TiO2 NRs. Protonated titanate nanotubes with layered structure and negative surface charges were first prepared by a hydrothermal approach, then rare earth metal ions were hemogeneously bound onto the titanate via electrostatic incorporation. The RE-TiO2 NRs with average diameter of ~10 nm were obtained through calcination treatment . Enhanced photocatalytic activities of the RE-TiO2 NRs were observed in comparison with undoped TiO2 NRs and commercial TiO2 photocatalysts. Photooxidation of methyl orange, as probe reaction, was chosen to evaluate the efficiency of the photocatalysts, and Eu-TiO2 NRs showed the fastest apparent reaction rate constant, which was evaluated as 42*10-4 s-1 in this catalytic system. La3+, Sm3+, Eu3+ and Er3+ doped TiO2 NRs showed higher photocatalytic efficiency on the photo-oxidation of azo groups. We have demonstrated that natural macromolecule lignin could be photodegraded effectively and rapidly at room temperature under simulated sunlight irradiation with a light intensity of 36.8 ± 0.2 mW cm-2. Catalyzed by RE-TiO2 NRs, the reaction mechanism of photocatalytic depolymerization of lignin was based on two reaction routes, which were revealed by spectroscopic analysis of intermediate products.
