Study of photodegradation performance of Zn‐doped CeO<sub>2</sub> nanoparticles for wastewater contaminants remediation under visible light
Khadijeh Hamidian, Mina Sarani, Shahriar Mohebbi, Ahmad Najafidoust, Abdolhossein Miri
Abstract
The presented paper introduces a green route for the arrangement of pure and 1%, 2%, and 4% zinc doped cerium oxide nanoparticles (Zn‐doped CeO 2 NPs) by involving the extract of Salvadora persica . The analytical results of powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX), and Raman techniques confirmed the successful synthesis of NPs. According to PXRD outcomes, pure CeO 2 NPs have a cubic phase. Moreover, as a result of the zinc doping within the crystal framework of this material, a noticeable alteration was observed in the placement of CeO 2 (101) peak. The size of pure CeO 2 NPs was measured by the FESEM analysis to be around 20–25 nm, which was decreased with the doping of zinc into CeO 2 structure. According to the UV–Vis outcomes, appeared peak in 343 cm −1 confirmed the formation of CeO 2 NPs; and this peak shifted by the doping of zinc. The observed Raman active band F 2g at 459 cm −1 in the graph of CeO 2 can be related to the fluorite type of CeO 2 construction. Moreover, we evaluated the photocatalytic functionality of the prepared samples towards acid orange 7 (AO7) dye at visible light. The gathered data indicated 2% Zn‐doped CeO 2 as the optimum sample due to eliminating 83% of AO7 dye at the volume of 15 mg L −1 in pH = 7. Therefore, performing a doping process on these NPs was a suitable choice for improving the photocatalytic activity of CeO 2 on AO7 dye.