Physicochemical and structural characterization of novel praseodymium and neodymium-incorporated TiO2 for photocatalytic application

Abstract Novel photocatalytic metal–organic framework (MOF) materials are an exciting research topic. However, the lack of investigating rare-earth doped semiconductor as well as understanding their physicochemical and structural characterization will prevent commercial or industrial applications. To overcome this obstacle, this study investigates the physicochemical and structural characterization of novel applied Titania-based materials synthesized via MOF strategy for photodegradation of methyl orange (MO). The studied materials are TiO 2 , Pr-doped TiO 2 (Pr@TiO 2 ), and Nd-TiO 2 (Nd@TiO 2 ) and applied as promising photocatalysts. The synthesized photocatalysts were prepared via metal–organic framework strategy and characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). SEM analysis revealed that only Nd resulted in smaller, more uniform particle sizes. XRD patterns confirmed the retention of the anatase phase in the case of Nd-modification, indicating successful lattice distortions. XPS results showed the chemical existence of Pr and Nd, increased oxygen vacancies, and surface hydroxyl groups, essential for enhanced photocatalytic activity. Photodegradation studies demonstrated that both Pr-TiO 2 and Nd-TiO 2 exhibited better performance compared to TiO 2 without Pr or Nd, following pseudo-first-order kinetics. These findings highlight the potential of Pr and Nd modification in the TiO 2 photocatalysts for efficient environmental remediation, particularly in the treatment of dye-containing wastewater.