Design novel Ce(MoO4)2@TiO2n–n heterostructures: enhancement photodegradation of toxic dyes

Abstract

In the research, ultrasonically synthesized Ce(MoO4)2 nanostructure was coupled with TiO2 nanoparticles to synthesize molybdate-based n–n heterostructure photocatalyst (Ce(MoO4)2@TiO2). Coupling with TiO2 nanoparticles was performed to reduce electron–hole pairs recombination as well as to increase the UV–Vis light absorption thanks to the interface between Ce(MoO4)2 and TiO2. Methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) as the anionic and cationic dyes were applied to investigate the photocatalytic properties of molybdate-based n–n heterostructure under UV–Vis light irradiation. Also, the impact of various TiO2 concentrations on the photocatalytic yield was assessed. The photocatalytic yield of Ce(MoO4)2@TiO2 exhibited a 30% enhancement compared to Ce(MoO4)2. In the following, the effects of different parameters such as pH of the solution, catalyst dosage, concentrations of dyes, and various inorganic ions (SO42−, NO3−, CO3−, and Cl−) on the degradation reaction were investigated. DRS results demonstrated that the bandgap of Ce(MoO4)2@TiO2 (3.3 eV) nanostructure showed a red shift in comparison with Ce(MoO4)2 (2.69 eV). Under the optimum degradation conditions, approximately 95 and 93% of methyl orange (MO) and rhodamine B (RhB) were degraded after 50 min under UV–Vis irradiation.