Alkali-free synthesis of a novel heterostructured CeO2-TiO2 nanocomposite with high performance to reduce Cr(VI) under visible light. Issue 3 (15th February 2018) - Jiang, Hualin
Abstract: In this study, a novel CeO2 -TiO2 nanocomposite denoted as CeO2 -3TiO2 was successfully synthesized via a facile one pot hydro-thermal method without alkali. It exhibits high photocatalytic reduction reactivity toward Cr(VI) under visible light. The photocatalytic reactivity of CeO2 -3TiO2 is 18 times higher than that of pure CeO2, 28 times higher than pure TiO2, 15 times higher than the sample of simply mixed CeO2 and TiO2 . The solution with Cr(VI) initial concentration of 2780 ppb can be fast photoreduced by CeO2 -3TiO2 in 60 min under visible light to meet the criterion of U.S. Environmental protection Agency. Characterization results indicate CeO2 -3TiO2 has the good crystal form of heterojunction structure, narrow pore size distribution, narrow energy gap and high photogenerated electron-hole separation efficiency. Based on the experimental results, a speculated photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. Graphical abstract: fx1