Abstract
Ceria (CeO2) nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by co-precipitation thermal degradation at 500 degrees C and 600 degrees C as a facile and low-cost method. The as-prepared CeO2 nanoparticles were characterized by FT-IR, UV-Vis, XRD and TEM. XRD patterns confirm a cubic phase of nanomaterials with an average crystallite size of 11.2 nm and 17.1 nm for Ce-1 and Ce-2, respectively. The effect of calcination temperature has been studied on the morphology, properties and photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh-B) under UV light. FT-IR spectra present strong bands assigned to Ce-O-Ce vibration below 550 cm(-1) for both samples. UV-Vis spectra show maximum absorbance at 352 nm with an optical bandgap of approximate to 2.96 and 3.18 eV, respectively. TEM images reveal that the particles Ce-1 and Ce-2 have approximately the average size of 11.2 and 17.1 nm with same shapes. All results confirm the synthesis of pure and single crystalline phase of the CeO2 nanoparticles. In addition, photocatalytic degradation of Rh-B dye was studied under UV light, and the effects of initial concentration of dyes, sorbent dose and contact time were investigated. Based on performed measurements, we can declare that CeO2 nanoparticles achieve good efficient photocatalytic performance for Rh-B dye degradation.