Abstract
The p-type CuO/n-type CeO2 heterojunction photocatalyst was synthesized by a facile combination of ribbon-ignition and calcination methods using Cu-Ce amorphous ribbons as precursors. The synthesized sample was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). XRD, FTIR and XPS reveal the successful synthesis of CuO/CeO2 composite. The SEM and TEM images show that the sample consists of large amounts of well-dispersed blocky-shaped particles with the size distribution from 20nm to 2μm. DRS exhibits the absorption band (about 491nm) and the band gap energy (2.59eV) of the CuO/CeO2 composite. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) dye (10mg/L) under visible light (λ>420nm) irradiation. Compared with pure CuO and CeO2, the CuO/CeO2 exhibited significantly enhanced photocatalytic degradation activity. The reaction rate constant of CuO/CeO2 is 0.18min−1, which is much higher than those of CuO (0.12min−1) and CeO2 (0.10min−1).
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
