The Study On Preparation And Photocatalytic Properties Of Ce Doped ZnO

Current water treatment technologies are difficult to completely remove pollutants from water bodies,while photocatalytic technology has attracted widespread attention for its ability to effectively degrade polluted water.On this basis,research on photocatalytic materials has become the focus of attention for many researchers.Among a number of photocatalytic materials,Zn O has the advantages of non-toxic and harmless,high chemical stability,low preparation cost and good photocatalytic performance.However,the practical application of Zn O is limited due to its shortcomings such as easy recombination of photogenerated charge carriers,low utilization efficiency of solar light,and tendency of Zn O nanoparticle agglomeration.Therefore,in the paper,we aim to enhance the photocatalytic performance of Zn O by inhibiting the recombination of photogenerated carriers through Ce³⁺doping and Ce O₂loading,as well as improving the utilization efficiency of solar light by Ag and Ce co-doping,so as to further enhance the photocatalytic performance of Zn O.A series of Ce³⁺doped Zn O photocatalyst samples were prepared by the hydrothermal method using zinc acetate dihydrate and cerium nitrate hexahydrate as the zinc and cerium sources,respectively,and the samples were characterized using various characterization techniques.The photocatalytic performance of the samples was tested by degrading Rh B dye.The results showed that the best photocatalytic performance of the samples was achieved at0.1%molar ratio of Ce³⁺to Zn O.After 120 min of simulating sunlight irradiation,the 0.1%Ce-Zn O sample exhibited a photodegradation rate of 95.6%towards the Rh B dye.In addition,we explained and discussed the mechanism of the Ce³⁺doped Zn O photocatalytic.A series of Ce O₂ loaded Zn O samples were prepared by varying the zinc source and hydrothermal conditions.The prepared materials were characterized and tested using various characterization techniques and testing tools.And the photocatalytic performance of the samples was investigated by changing ratio of Ce O₂ to Zn O,catalyst dose,pollutant concentration,and pollutant type.The results showed that the best photocatalytic performance was achieved at 2%ratio of Ce O₂ to Zn O of the samples.The photodegradation rate of Rh B dye by 2%Ce O₂/Zn O can reach 98.13%under simulated sunlight irradiation for a shorter time of 60 min.In addition,the 2%Ce O₂/Zn O sample maintained a high photodegradation rate after six photocatalytic cycles of testing,indicating that 2%Ce O₂/Zn O had high stability.In the study above,it was found that Ce O₂ loading did not play a role in reducing the Zn O band gap,resulting in the poor performance of these samples in enhancing the solar light utilization efficiency.Therefore,we aimed to further improve the photocatalytic performance by using Ag and Ce co-doped Zn O.The photocatalytic results revealed that the Ag and Ce co-doped Zn O sample achieved 95.7%photodegradation of Rh B dye in only 30 min,which enhanced greatly the photocatalytic efficiency.The reasons were that the Ag and Ce co-doping could effectively reduce the band gap of Zn O,thus improving the utilization efficiency of solar light by the catalyst.Meanwhile,the recombination rate of photogenerated electrons and holes in Ag and Ce co-doped Zn O was reduced greatly.Moreover,the sample improved greatly the carrier density and transfer rate.The enhanced photocatalytic performance of Ag and Ce co-doped Zn O was also investigated theoretically.