Preparation of Er3+:YAlO3/ZnO coating compound by sol-gel method and photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes under sun light irradiation

In this work, the Er3+:YAlO3, as upconversion luminescence agent, was prepared and coated by ZnO film through sol-gel technique and the Er3+:YAlO3/ZnO coating compound, a novel photocatalyst, with high activity under sun light irradiation was subsequently prepared. The Er3+:YAlO3 and Er3+:YAlO3/ZnO were characterized by XRD. The activity of Er3+:YAlO3/ZnO was tested by photocatalytic degradation of acid red B in aqueous solution. The experimental results proved that the Er3+:YAlO3/ZnO was able to decompose the acid red B efficiently, and it is promising to use the idea to develop new photocatalyst with high activity for degradation under sun light irradiation.