Aluminium and cerium co-doped ZnO nanoparticles:Facile and inexpensive synthesis and visible light photocatalytic performances

• 作者: Irshad Ahmad Muhammad Shoaib Akhtar Ejaz Ahmed Mukhtar Ahmad
• 来源期刊: 稀土学报（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2021,（2）
• 所属期刊栏目: RARE EARTH CATALYSIS
• 页码范围: 151-159
• 页数: 9页
• 语种: 英文

摘要

Facile combustion route synthesized Al and Ce co-doped ZnO nanoparticles photocatalysts were char-acterized using XRD,SEM,BET,EDS,UV-visible DRS,PL,photocurrent and EIS techniques.XRD and SEM analyses identify that crystallite and particle size is reduced from 13.26 to 11.88 nm with introduction of Al and Ce into ZnO which assists inhibiting the recombination of photo generated charge carriers.UV-visible DRS spectra indicate that optical assimilation of ZnO is significantly increased to visible region(～406 nm)and band gap reduces from 3.18 to 3.06 eV with introduction of Al and Ce co-dopants.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy analysis under visible light illumination confirms the enhancement in visible light activity of Al and Ce co-doped ZnO nanoparticles as photocatalysts.The enhanced activity of Al and Ce co-doped ZnO photocatalyst can be ascribed to enhanced light assimi-lation,high surface area and efficient charge transfer process.Our results reveal that by incorporating precise amount of Al(～2％)and Ce(～2％)into ZnO,a highly efficient catalyst can be synthesized that have degraded almost 95％methyl orange(MO)dye in just 45 min.Further,the influence of various opera-tional parameters such as solution pH,catalyst dose,dye concentration,airflow rate and light intensity on photodecomposition of MO was evaluated.Furthermore,a possible mechanism for Al and Ce modified ZnO was proposed and designed photocatalysts demonstrates good stability in aqueous medium.