Study of photodegradation performance of Zn‐doped CeO2 nanoparticles for wastewater contaminants remediation under visible light

Abstract

The presented paper introduces a green route for the arrangement of pure and 1%, 2%, and 4% zinc doped cerium oxide nanoparticles (Zn‐doped CeO2 NPs) by involving the extract of Salvadora persica. The analytical results of powder X‐ray diffraction (PXRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX), and Raman techniques confirmed the successful synthesis of NPs. According to PXRD outcomes, pure CeO2 NPs have a cubic phase. Moreover, as a result of the zinc doping within the crystal framework of this material, a noticeable alteration was observed in the placement of CeO2 (101) peak. The size of pure CeO2 NPs was measured by the FESEM analysis to be around 20–25 nm, which was decreased with the doping of zinc into CeO2 structure. According to the UV–Vis outcomes, appeared peak in 343 cm−1 confirmed the formation of CeO2 NPs; and this peak shifted by the doping of zinc. The observed Raman active band F2g at 459 cm−1 in the graph of CeO2 can be related to the fluorite type of CeO2 construction. Moreover, we evaluated the photocatalytic functionality of the prepared samples towards acid orange 7 (AO7) dye at visible light. The gathered data indicated 2% Zn‐doped CeO2 as the optimum sample due to eliminating 83% of AO7 dye at the volume of 15 mg L−1 in pH = 7. Therefore, performing a doping process on these NPs was a suitable choice for improving the photocatalytic activity of CeO2 on AO7 dye.