Solution combustion synthesis of CeO2/ZnO nano-composite as a potential scaffold for detection and degradation of p-nitrophenol

Abstract

Abstract CeO2/ZnO nano-composite was synthesized via solution combustion synthesis (SCS) and annealed at 500 °C. As-synthesized material was characterized in terms of field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), powdered X-ray diffraction (PXRD), fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and UV–visible spectroscopy. The surface properties of as-synthesized nano-composite were obtained from N2 gas BET analysis. FESEM and XRD results indicate that as-synthesized material composed of two different morphologies, i.e. distinctly distinct hexagonal nanorods and aggregated spherical–shaped nanoparticles of CeO2/ZnO nano-composite. The nanorods were estimated to be 500 ± 50 nm in length and 90–140 nm in diameter. From the photocatalytic degradation of PNP, 0.15 g of CeO2/ZnO was found to be the optimum amount for the maximum degradation p-nitrophenol (PNP) molecules in 200 min. Chemical sensing study indicated that the material was highly selective to PNP with a theoretical detection limit of 3.05 μM L−1, which is believed to be due to the formation of new sites relatively more compatible to the adsorption of PNP.