Synthesis of High-Activity TiO2-Based Photocatalysts by Compounding a Small Amount of Porous Nanosized LaFeO3 and the Activity-Enhanced Mechanisms

In this work, a feasible strategy has been developed to fabricate highly active TiO2-based photocatalysts for degrading rhodamine B solution under ultraviolet or visible irradiation. The key of this strategy is to compound a small amount of porous LaFeO3 to nanocrystalline TiO2, leading to the delay of anatase-rutile phase tansformation and then to the formation of the anatase TiO2/rutile TiO2/LaFeO3 three-phase nanostructured hetero-junctions after thermal treatment at a high temperature of 800 degrees C. The resulting three-phase heterojunctions greatly favor the photoinduced charge separation, especially promoting the visible induced electrons of LaFeO3 captured by the adsorbed O-2, based on their surface photovoltage responses, which is well responsible for the ultraviolet or visible activity enhancement. This work would provide a feasible route to fabricate high-performance TiO2-based nanomaterials.