Synthesis, characterization, low temperature solid state PL and photocatalytic activities of Ag2O•CeO2•ZnO nanocomposite

A novel multi-metal nanocomposite oxide Ag2O center dot CeO2 center dot ZnO has been prepared by co-precipitation of their carbonates from aqueous solutions of the metal nitrates following calcinations and annealing 5 h at 450 degrees C and 4 h at 600 degrees C. Ag2O center dot CeO2 center dot ZnO has been characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS and PL spectra. According to XRD results the crystallite size of Ag2O center dot CeO2 center dot ZnO varies in the range of 19-111 nm with an average size of 50 nm, which is in good agreement with SEM results. Elemental analysis was performed by SEM-EDS. Emissions of Ag2O center dot CeO2 center dot ZnO has been observed in UV (NBE emission), visible and NIR regions at 325 am excitation by a line of He-Cd laser. Photocatalytic as well as anti-bacterial activities have been studied. The nano composite Ag2O center dot CeO2 center dot ZnO shows an excellent photocatalytic dye degradation activity. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.