Abstract
Nanoparticles of cerium oxide have great importance in several fields, including great influence on the environment and human health. The preparation nanoparticles of CeO
2
hybrid with chitosan has exhibited promising applications in several fields especially degradation of organic pollutants such as dyes and pesticides. This study illustrated a facile, eco-friendly, and low-cost method for synthesis of pure CeO
2
and its loading on chitosan NPs with different loading ratios. The as-synthesized catalysts were characterized using UV–Vis, XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDX, and TEM studies. The presence of an intense peak at 215 nm is detected by the spectrum of UV–Vis indicated by the formation of pure CeO
2
, where the presence of Ce–O bonds was confirmed by an FT-IR peak at 769.45 cm
−1
. EDX analysis showed the presence of Ce, O, and C in pure and hybrid CeO
2
–chitosan NPs. The SEM graph showed an irregular shape with aggregation of NPs, both CeO
2
and hybrid CeO
2
–chitosan NPs. The as-synthesized photocatalysts showed maximum degradation ratios of Congo Red (CR) dye under specified conditions: pH 8, irradiation exposure time = 90 min, catalyst dose = 0.3 g/L, and 50 mg/L CR initial concentration. The Langmuir isotherm model is better fitted than the Freundlich model. Kinetically, the photodegradation reaction is followed the pseudo-second order model with
q
e
ranging between 43.67 and 46.51 mg/g with
R
2
> 0.99.