Abstract
CeO2–SiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by sol-gel, a very suitable method for large-scale production. The formation of cubic fluorite structure of CeO2–SiO2 nanocomposites was confirmed by XRD, FTIR and TEM. The average nanocrystalline size has been calculated as 0.5, 1.5 and 2.5 nm using Debye-Scherrer formula for different annealed samples. The calculated nanocrystalline sizes were compared with Williamson-Hall plot and TEM histograms. The FTIR spectroscopy provides the valuable information and identification of different chemical group/bonds present in the prepared samples. The absorption spectra and corresponding band gap energies emphasized a red shift with annealing. The photocatalytic activity was studied through the degradation of Rhodamine 6G under visible light exposure. The nanocomposite annealed at 900 °C has the highest photocatalytic efficiency may be due to small band gap energy. Effect of annealing on mechanism of photodegradation has been discussed in detail. It seems that the crystallinity of the nanopowder is responsible for its higher efficiency because of increase in oxygen vacancies and defect states with annealing which causes narrow bandgap.
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