Visible‐light‐driven photocatalysis degradation of antibiotic pollutants by La‐doped CeO 2 nanorods: synergy of La doping and oxygen vacancy

Abstract Elemental doping is an effective strategy to enhance photocatalytic activity and extend the light absorption range of single‐component photocatalysts. In this work, a series of La‐doped CeO 2 nanorods (La‐CeO 2 ‐ x ) with La content of 1 wt%–15 wt% are synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and further used as photocatalyst for sulfamerazine (SMR) degradation. The prepared La‐CeO 2 ‐ x nanorods exhibit a great improvement in electron–hole pair migration and visible‐light response due to the synergistic effect of abundant oxygen vacancies and heterogeneous elements (La). Consequently, La‐CeO 2 ‐ x exhibited excellent visible‐light photocatalytic performances and chemical stability for SMR degradation, the La‐CeO 2 ‐5 sample achieved the highest SMR degradation rate of 81%, which was 3.4 times higher than that of the original CeO 2 . Furthermore, three possible degradation pathways of SMR in La‐CeO 2 photocatalytic reactions were proposed by liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry technique. Finally, density functional theory calculations were carried out to provide an in‐depth understanding of the structure‐performance relationships. Considering its excellent properties and better photocatalytic performance, this study demonstrates that La doping in CeO 2 is an effective way to increase oxygen vacancy and improve the photochemical properties of photocatalysts.