the improved photocatalytic performance of strontium titanate (sto) powder induced by lanthanum dopants

In this research, lanthanum (la)-doped strontium titanate (sto) with the formula of sr1-xlaxtio3 (lsto; x=0, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07) powders have been successfully fabricated by co-precipitation route. the impacts of la3+ on the structural, microstructure, band-gap, and photocatalytic activity for the degradation of organic pollutants, in this case, methylene blue, under uv exposure, were reported in detail. the formation of undoped and la-doped sto samples with cubic perovskite structures was confirmed by x-ray diffraction (xrd) results. the presence of la doping affected the microstructure morphology by producing lsto powders with a larger specific surface area. besides, the uv absorption of the lsto powders was enhanced due to the narrowed band gap caused by la3+ dopants. accordingly, an improvement in photocatalytic activity applied for the photodegradation of methylene blue solution was exhibited by the lsto samples.