In this paper, TiO2 nanoparticles doped with different amounts of Zn were prepared by a sol-gel method and were mainly characterized by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL), and surface photovoltage spectrum (SPS). The effects of surface oxygen vacancies (SOVs) of Zn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles on photophysical and photocatalytic processes were investigated along with their inherent relationships. The results show that the SOVs easily bind photoinduced electrons to further give rise to PL signals. The SOVs can result in an interesting sub-band SPS response near the band edge in the TiO2 sample consisting of much anatase and little rutile, except for an obvious band-to-band SPS response. Moreover, the intensities of PL and SPS signals of TiO2, as well as the photocatalytic activity for degrading phenol solution, can be enhanced by doping an appropriate amount of Zn. These improvements are mainly attributed to the increase in the SOV amount. It can be suggested that the SOVs should play an important role during the processes of PL, surface photovoltage, and photocatalytic reactions, and, for the as-prepared TiO2 samples doped with different amounts of Zn by thermal treatment at 550℃, the larger the SOV amount, the stronger the PL and SPS signal, and the higher the photocatalytic activity.

In this paper, Sn-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by a sol–gel method, and also were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), infrared spectrum (IR), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflection spectrum (UV-vis DRS), photoluminescence spectrum (PL), surface photovoltage spectroscopy (SPS) and electrical field induced surface photovoltage spectroscopy (EFISPS). The sample activity was evaluated by photocatalytic oxidation reactions of phenol solution. The effects of thermal treatment temperature and Sn amount on photoinduced charge property, mainly involving charge separation and bound excitons resulting from surface states, and photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles were principally investigated. The results show that an appropriate calcination temperature and Sn dopant amount can greatly enhance the SPS responses of TiO2 nanoparticles related not only to the band-band transitions but also to the bound excitons, and obviously weaken the PL signal, while the photocatalytic activity remarkably raises. These demonstrate that the separation rate of photoinduced charges of TiO2 nanoparticles can be effectively improved by doping Sn, which is responsible for the obvious increase in the photocatalytic activity. Moreover, the existence of bound excitons related to surface states also favor the photocatalytic activity. In addition, it can be found that the SPS responses related to the bound excitons could easily exhibit in the TiO2 sample consisting of much of anatase and little of rutile, which is possibly ascribed to the heterojunction between the anatase and rutile phase.

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a promising technique valuable for environmental purification. Nano-sized semiconductors such as ZnO and TiO2, which is one of the most basic functional materials, have emerged as effective photocatalyst materials. The surface photovoltage spectra (SPS) can be an effective method for quickly evaluating the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor materials since it can provide a rapid, non-destructive monitor of the semiconductor surface properties such as surface band bending, surface and bulk carrier recombination and surface states, mainly showing the carrier separation and transfer behavior with the aid of light, especially the electric-field-induced surface photovoltage spectra (EFISPS), in which SPS is combined with the electric-field-modified technique. In this review, the basic principles, measurement and applications of the SPS and EFISPS are mainly discussed together with some fundamental aspects like the electric properties of semiconductor surface and the principle of electric field effect. In particular, the applications of SPS to nano-sized semiconductors such as ZnO and TiO2 in heterogeneous photocatalysis are emphasized, which involve mainly evaluating the photocatalytic activity by analyzing semiconductor surface properties such as the separation efficiency of photoinduced carriers under illumination by the SPS measurement, highlighting our own contributions. The results show that the weaker the surface photovoltage signal is, the higher the photocatalytic activity is in the case of nano-sized semiconductor photocatalysts.

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.