A NOVEL STUDY ON THE SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION, AND PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF CeO2 NANOPARTICLES

Abstract

The discharge of untreated wastewater from unplanned industrial activities using dyes can cause serious environmental pollution and affect the aquatic environment. Semiconductor photocatalysis is a favorable technology widely used for degrading organic dyes in wastewater. This study dealt with the preparation of CeO2 nanoparticles via a simple precipitation technique. Information on the structural and morphological features of the developed CeO2 nanoparticles were determined using Fourier transform infrared with attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) spectroscopic methods. The presence of the characteristic bands of CeO2 in the FTIR spectrum provided evidence of successful CeO2 formation. The calculated crystallite particle size utilizing the Scherrer equation was 10 nm. SEM images revealed that the morphology of CeO2 consisted of almost spherical particles with slight agglomeration. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) technique was also used to find out the specific surface area of CeO2 nanoparticles (11 m2/g). The efficiency of CeO2 nanoparticles was also confirmed in terms of their photocatalytic activity against Rhodamine B (Rh B) under UV-A light. The results indicated that CeO2 nanoparticles could be a promising catalyst candidate for industrial wastewater treatment.