Enhanced photocatalytic activity of Ce-doped β-Ga2O3 nanofiber fabricated by electrospinning method

• Published in: Journal of materials science. Materials in electronics 2021-02, Vol.32 (3), p.3402-3414
• Main Authors: Kim, Young-Hun, Heo, Youn-Jung, Koh, Won-Gun, Shin, Gyojic, Choi, Kyung Ho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalytic activity; Cerium; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crystal structure; Doping; Electrospinning; Energy gap; Gallium oxides; Materials Science; Methylene blue; Morphology; Nanofibers; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical properties; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Scanning electron microscopy; Sol-gel processes; Spectrum analysis; Synthesis; Ultraviolet radiation; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0957-4522; 1573-482X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10854-020-05087-8

Herein, β-Ga 2 O 3 photocatalyst was designed to improve the photocatalytic activity. Therefore, two strategies were employed: chemical modification by Ce doping and morphological control by formation of nanofibers. Therefore, Ce-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 nanofibers were successfully synthesized using a sol–gel derived electrospinning. These synthesized nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV–vis spectroscopy. The SEM and XRD results indicated that Ce doping slightly influence on the morphology and crystal structure of nanofibers. In addition, the UV–vis transmittance spectra result indicates that the bandgap energy of Ce-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 nanofibers was significantly reduced from 4.92 eV to 4.54 eV. In specific, the 0.7 mol % Ce-doped β-Ga 2 O 3 nanofibers exhibits the lowest optical band gap energy as 4.54 eV. Moreover, the photodegradation properties of β-Ga 2 O 3 nanofibers were evaluated by using the Methylene Blue (MB) under UV light. Interestingly, the β-Ga 2 O 3 nanofibers doped by 0.7 mol% cerium atom exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity than other synthesized nanofibers. Consequently, from the overall characterizations, it was found that improved activity of photocatalytic degradation will be attributed to the narrow optical bandgap energy and reduced recombination rate arising from the cerium doping.