Abstract
The study reports the synthesis of cerium oxide (CeO2) nanowires functionalized with a blend of ascorbic acid–alginate biopolymer via chemical coprecipitation method. The material was characterized by FTIR, XRD, SEM-EDX, DSC, DLS and UV-Vis spectroscopy. The X-ray data obtained suggested a cubic fluorite structure of CeO2 which is little bit mitigated due to functionalization by organic moieties of ascorbic acid–alginate blends. The band gap energy Eg value of the material using UV-Vis spectroscopy associated with Tauc’s plot was found to be 2.56 eV. The synthesized material was further explored as a photocatalyst for the degradation of crystal violet dye under visible light. The synergistic and antagonistic effect of various reaction parameters like irradiation time (10–110 min), pH (2.6–9.3) and catalyst dose (1.59–18.5 mg) on CV degradation was observed under response surface methodology coupled with central composite design in a vicinity of 95% confidence interval and desirability of 1.0. The experimental data suggested that the photocatalysis was controlled by pseudo first order kinetics and hydroxyl radical (•OH radicals) was acting as primary ROS resulting in 99.52% degradation of CV. The material we are reporting in our manuscript has not been reported anywhere in the literature. Very few studies are there in literature which explored the properties of biopolymer for nanomaterial synthesis and stabilization. The surface functionalization of CeO2 not only provided stabilization but also enhanced their photocatalytic activities towards crystal violet dye. The computational modeling and optimization reaction for photocatalytic studies are purely novel.
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•Cubic fluorite structured CeO2 nanowires were successfully grown in the matrix of Alg-Asc biopolymer matrix.•The synthesized material resulted in 99.52% of CV degradation capacity under solar radiation.•Response surface methodology in association with Central Composite design was proved to be an important statistical tool to optimize the reaction variables.•Photocatalysis was controlled by pseudo first order kinetics and hydroxyl radical (•OH radicals) was acting as primary ROS.