Facile synthesis of Z-scheme CeO2@AgBr heterojunction for improved dye degradation

CeO2 nanorods were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and coupled with AgBr via deposition approach. X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), trans-mission electron microscopy (TEM), Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) and diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) were used to characterize the structure, morphology and optical properties of the samples. The photoinduced charge separation efficiency was determined by transient photocurrent response and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The effect of CeO2 loading on the Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation in CeO2@AgBr composites was also investigated. The results indicated that 40 wt%-CeO2@AgBr photocatalyst demonstrated the highest photo-catalytic activity than pure CeO2 and AgBr. The trapping experiment showed that holes (h+) and superoxide radicals (& BULL;O2 ) were the main active species for the degradation of RhB. The improved photocatalytic activity of CeO2@AgBr catalysts were attributed to the formation of Z-scheme heterojunction, which effectively inhibited the recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs.

Automated summary

CeO2 nanorods were synthesized by hydrothermal method and coupled with AgBr via deposition approach. XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, BET, and DRS were used for characterization. The photoinduced charge separation efficiency was determined by transient photocurrent response and PL spectra. The effect of CeO2 loading on Rhodamine B degradation in CeO2@AgBr composites was investigated. 40 wt%-CeO2@AgBr photocatalyst showed the highest catalytic activity due to the formation of a Z-scheme heterojunction, effectively inhibiting the recombination of electron-hole pairs.