Influence of Operating Parameters on Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue in UV/ Tb3+ and Sm3+ Co-Doped TiO2 Process

0.1%Tb3+ and 0.2%Sm3+ co-doped TiO2 have been prepared by sol-gel method and characterized by the techniques such as XRD and SEM/EDAX. The photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue in aqueous solution was used as a probe reaction to evaluate their photocatalytic activity. The effects of process parameters like, pH and initial methylene blue concentration on the extent of photodegradation have been investigated. The results show when the solution is at pH 7, with initial methylene blue concentration of 4 mg/L, the photodegradation is best. Key words: