@article {Barrocas2015,
	title = {{Removal of rhodamine 6G dye contaminant by visible light driven immobilized Ca1⿿Ln MnO3 (Ln = Sm, Ho; 0.1 ⿤x⿤ 0.4) photocatalysts}},
	journal = {Applied Surface Science},
	volume = {360},
	year = {2016},
	note = {n/a},
	month = {jan},
	pages = {798{\textendash}806},
	abstract = {<p>Visible-light-driven Ca1-xLnxMnO3 (Ln=Sm, Ho; 0.1<=x<=0.4) films were grown by RF- magnetron sputtering onto fused silica substrates. The effects of Ca2+ substitution for Ho3+ or Sm3+ in Ca1-xLnxMnO3 on the structural, morphological and photocatalytic properties for Rhodamine 6G dye degradation under visible light irradiation were investigated. XRD showed a pure typical perovskite phase for all the prepared films, except for Ca0.9Ho0.1MnO3 and a decrease of the crystallite size with the increase of the amount of ion substituted. SEM and AFM revealed that the films surface is dense, with low roughness. UV-vis spectroscopy indicated for the two series band gaps in the range of 1.6 - 2.8eV, being lower for the films containing holmium. The results showed that some Ca1-xHoxMnO3 and Ca1-xSmxMnO3 films present higher photocatalytic activity for Rh6G degradation in comparison with TiO2 films and for the same x value the Ho-films exhibited higher photocatalytic activity. For both films series the maximal degradation rate was obtained for x=0.2; above this content the degradation percentage exhibits a decreasing trend with the increase of Ho or Sm substitution, except for x=0.4 in the case of Ho system, which is observed again an increase in the degradation rate. The Rh6G photocatalytic degradation followed a pseudo first-order reaction kinetics. XRD and SEM of the used photocatalysts evidenced high photochemical stability.</p>
},
	keywords = {Mixed-valence manganites films, Photocatalytic activities, RF-magnetron sputtering, Rhodamine 6G, Visible light irradiation},
	issn = {01694332},
	doi = {10.1016/j.apsusc.2015.11.070},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433215027658 https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169433215027658},
	author = {Barrocas, B. and S{\'e}rio, S. and Rovisco, A. and Y. Nunes and Jorge, M.E. Melo}
}
