Spray deposited yttrium incorporated TiO2 photoelectrode for efficient photoelectrocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

This work presents result on yttrium-doped titanium dioxide (YTO) thin films using a cost-effective spray pyrolysis technique for the photoelectrocatalytic degradation of phthalic acid (PA) and benzoic acid (BA). The physicochemical properties of YTO thin films were studied using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, etc. The obtained results confirm the presence of yttrium in the host lattice. The band bending and flat band positions were studied using Mott–Schottky analysis. The film with 1% doping amount shows the highest degradation efficiency for both the model pollutants compared to TiO2. The stability of 1% YTO film confirms excellent performance analyzed by recycling tests using a UV–vis spectrophotometer. These results highlight the significance of rare earth metal doping in TiO2 for improved photoelectrocatalytic degradation efficiency.