In this review, the photoluminescence (PL) performance and mechanism of nano-sized semiconductor materials, such as TiO2 and ZnO, are introduced, together with their attributes and affecting factors. Moreover, the applications of PL spectra in environmental photocatalysis are discussed in detail, viz. the inherent relationships between the PL intensity and photocatalytic activity are revealed on the basis of PL attributes, demonstrating that the PL spectra can reflect some important information such as surface defects and oxygen vacancies, surface states, photo-induced charge carrier separation and recombination processes in nano-sized semiconductor materials. Thus, the PL spectrum can provide a firm foundation in theory for designing and synthesizing new semiconductor photocatalysts with high activity, as well as quickly evaluating the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor samples.

In this paper, pure and La doped TiO2 nanoparticles with different La content were prepared by a sol-gel process using Ti (OC4H9)4 as raw material, and also were characterized by XRD, TG-DTA, TEM, XPS, DRS and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. We mainly investigated the effects of calcining temperature and La content on the properties and the photocatalytic activity for degrading phenol of as-prepared TiO2 samples, and also discussed the relationships between PL spectra and photocatalytic activity as well as the mechanisms of La doping on TiO2 phase transformation. The results showed that La3+ did not enter into the crystal lattices of TiO2 and was uniformly dispersed onto TiO2 as the form of La2O3 particles with small size, which possibly made La dopant have a great inhibition on TiO2 phase transformation; La dopant did not give rise to a new PL signal, but it could improve the intensity of PL spectra with a appropriate La content, which was possibly attributed to the increase in the content of surface oxygen vacancies and defects after doping La; La doped TiO2 nanoparticles calcined at 600℃ exhibited higher photocatalytic activity, indicating that 600℃ was an appropriate calcination temperature. The order of photocatalytic activity of La doped TiO2 samples with different La content was as following: 141.54340.54540 mol%, which was the same as the order of their PL intensity, namely, the stronger the PL intensity, the higher the photocatalytic activity, demonstrating that there were certain relationships between PL spectra and photocatalytic activity. This could be explained by the points that PL spectra mainly resulted from surface oxygen vacancies and defects during the process of PL, while surface oxygen vacancies and defects could be favorable in capturing the photoinduced electrons during the process of photocatalytic reactions.

In this paper, ZnO nanoparticle photocatalysts were modified by depositing Pd on their surfaces with a photoreduction method. We mainly investigated the modification mechanisms as well as the effects on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO nanoparticles of deposited Pd by means of XPS and SPS (Surface Photovoltage Spectroscopy), and the effects of Pd content on SPS responses were also discussed from the point of the electronic energy level. The results showed that the content of crystal lattice oxygen on the surface of ZnO nanoparticle decreased after an appropriate amount of Pd was deposited, while that of adsorbed oxygen increased, indicating that Pd was mainly deposited on the crystal lattice oxygen. At the same time, the intensity of SPS responses of ZnO nanoparticles remarkably decreased. In addition, the activity of ZnO nanoparticles could be greatly improved by depositing an appropriate amount of Pd in the gas phase photocatalytic oxidation of n-C7H16. Thus, it could be concluded that the increase in surface content of adsorbed oxygen could facilitate the photocatalytic reaction, and there were close relationships between the SPS response and photocatalytic activity, i.e. the weaker the SPS response, the higher the photocatalytic activity, of Pd-deposited ZnO nanoparticles.

In this paper, ZnO ultrafine particles (UFPs) were prepared by the thermal decomposition method of the precursor, zinc carbonate hydroxide. The structure and properties of the as-prepared ZnO UFPs were studied using TEM, XRD, BET, SPS, ESR, Raman, XPS and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. It was found that the prepared ZnO UFPs exhibited obvious quantum size effect and surface effect. In addition, there were many active species on the surface of ZnO UFPs such as oxygen deficiencies and hydroxyls, both of which can improve the photocatalytic activities of ZnO UFPs.

We prepared ZnO ultrafine particles (UFPs) by thermal decomposition of the precursor zinc carbonate hydroxide. The surface properties of the as-prepared particles were studied using TEM, XRD, BET, SPS, EPR, IR, and XPS. The surface contains active species such as oxygen deficiencies and hydroxyl that improve photocatalytic activities. The concentrations of active species decreased as the calcination temperature increased along with the surface areas and photovoltage. The ZnO UFP have a significant EPR signal resulting from O2 deficiencies on the surface, which can capture and trap alectrons. Dining photocatalytic degradation of phenol, the photocatalytic activities of the particles decreased as their size increased, which means that these activities depend mainly on surface properties.