Preparation and photocatalytic activity of TiO2/CeO2/Bi2O3 composite for Rhodamine B degradation under visible light irradiation

A material library of TiO2/CeO2/Bi2O3 composite system is designed using combinatorial methodology, which consist of 66 samples. The corresponding composite photocatalysts of all the 66 samples are prepared by ball milling at the speed of 300 rpm for 2 h and sintering at 550 degrees C for 2 h. The photocatalytic efficiencies of all the as-prepared 66 samples are then tested by degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation. The result shows that the best sample is the one which the mole ratio of TiO2/CeO2/Bi2O3 is 2/5/3 in the material library, nearly 55% of RhB is degraded after 2 h irradiation. A possible reason for the sample with the best degradation rate has been proposed in this paper. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) are used to investigate the physical properties of the as-prepared photocatalyst. (C) 2013 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.