Effect of cerium doping on the textural, structural and optical properties of zinc oxide: Role of cerium and hydrogen peroxide to enhance the photocatalytic degradation of endocrine disrupting compounds

Abstract

ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO photocatalysts with different Ce molar content (0.5–1–2–4%) have been successfully synthesized by a hydrothermal method. The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Nitrogen physisorption at 77K; Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–visible spectroscopy, Photoluminescence spectra (PL), and Raman spectroscopy. The XRD demonstrates that the products have the same crystal structure, and loading of Ce4+ ions does not change the structure of ZnO. BET surface area analysis revealed that all the samples can be described as type IV. The FTIR proves the formation of ZnO. It was also observed that the cerium doping increased the visible light absorption ability of Ce-doped ZnO and a red shift appeared for Ce-doped ZnO when compared to pure ZnO. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized catalysts was evaluated by the degradation and the mineralization of bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP) pollutants in aqueous solutions in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) under UV irradiation. The small crystallite size, the high specific surface area and the low band gap by allowing to the high charge separation efficiency were attributed to the increase of the catalytic activity.