Synthesis of a novel Ce-Pr-Fe-O@C photocatalyst and its photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Using Ce(NO3)3·6H2O, Pr(NO3)3·6H2O，and Fe(NO3)3·9H2O as metal sources, and Acid Red 14 (AR14) as carbon source, a Ce-Pr-Fe-O@C photocatalyst was synthesized via a codeposition method. An orthogonal matrix of experiments was used to investigate the effect of the main synthesis parameters on the photocatalytic activity of Ce-Pr-Fe-O@C for the degradation of AR14. The obtained materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, Raman, XPS techniques, and the results showed that a cubic fluorite structure was formed containing evenly distributed Fe, Pr and C in all samples. The AR14 degradation results showed that the photocatalytic activity of Ce-Pr-Fe-O@C doped with a small amount of Fe, Pr and C is more effective, due to the efficient visible light absorption and the effective separation of photoelectrons and holes resulting from the presence of oxygen vacancies and carbon bonds.