Solar energy conversion has emerged as an attractive pathway in the decomposition of
hazardous organic pollutants. Herein, tridoped β-NaYF4: Yb3+, Tm3+, Gd3+ upconversion
(UC) nanorods were embedded in a carbon-doped mesostructured TiO2 hybrid film using
triblock copolymer P123 acting as a mesoporous template and carbon source. The
photoactivity of our novel material was reflected in the degradation of nitrobenzene, as a
representative organic waste. The broad-band absorption of our rationally designed UC …

TiO 2 has been mostly used in the field of photocatalysis due to high activity. However, the
large bandgap (~ 3.2 eV) limits its sunlight absorption to UV region of the solar spectrum.
With carbon-doped TiO 2 the conduction band remains above the redox potential, as carbon
moieties behave as sensitizers enhancing a wide range of light absorption. Furthermore
upconversion nanocrystals are utilize to increase absorption of longer wavelengths sunlight
ranging from visible to near-infrared region. Herein, we report a concept for the fabrication of …