“…Several studies have revealed that trapping either a hole or electron is not always effective because the immobilized charge species rapidly recombines with its mobile counterpart. 47,59,60 First row transition metal ions such as Fe 3+ and Ni 2+ doped TiO 2 show a lower photocatalytic activity than pure TiO 2 and do not show any change in the colour under UV light exposure, i.e., these ions are not reduced to their atomic state. The intermediate state that has been created due to metal ion doping acts as a recombination centre instead of suppressing the e À -h + recombination and the electrons present in d-orbital quench the photogenerated holes by indirect recombination, hence increasing e À -h + recombination rates.…”