Photocatalytic activity and radiation-attenuation ability of copper ions surface-doped dysprosium oxide

Herein, Cu ions surface-doped Dy₂O₃ photocatalyst (Cu–Dy₂O₃) is synthesized utilizing hydrothermal technique to degrade methyl violet under visible light irradiation. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and UV–Visible techniques are used to characterize the structure, morphology, and optical activities of the photocatalyst, respectively. Moreover, the radiation-attenuation ability of Dy₂O₃ and Cu–Dy₂O₃ is studied by determining the mass attenuation coefficients using Geant4 simulations. XRD measurements indicate that Cu–Dy₂O₃ has high crystallinity and single phase orientation which outperforms photocatalytic activity. The doped material shows 94% degradation efficiency, which is much better as compared to the undoped material under visible light. The reason for enhanced efficiency could be attributed to the synergetic effect, good morphology, small crystallite size, lattice distortion due to doping, and more charge imbalance of copper-doped Dy₂O₃. The excellent photocatalytic efficiency and other above mentioned characteristics of the synthesized photocatalyst may be responsible for future applications.