Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by CeO2 and Fe-doped CeO2 films under visible light irradiation

D Channei; B Inceesungvorn; N Wetchakun; S Ukritnukun; A Nattestad; J Chen; S Phanichphant

doi:10.1038/srep05757

Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by CeO2 and Fe-doped CeO2 films under visible light irradiation

Sci Rep. 2014 Aug 29:4:5757. doi: 10.1038/srep05757.

Authors

D Channei¹, B Inceesungvorn¹, N Wetchakun², S Ukritnukun³, A Nattestad⁴, J Chen⁴, S Phanichphant⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
² Department of Physics and Materials Science, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
⁴ Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, ARC Centre of Excellent for Electromaterials Science, Australian Institute of Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
⁵ Materials Science Research Center, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.

Abstract

Undoped CeO2 and 0.50-5.00 mol% Fe-doped CeO2 nanoparticles were prepared by a homogeneous precipitation combined with homogeneous/impreganation method, and applied as photocatalyst films prepared by a doctor blade technique. The superior photocatalytic performances of the Fe-doped CeO2 films, compared with undoped CeO2 films, was ascribed mainly to a decrease in band gap energy and an increase in specific surface area of the material. The presence of Fe(3+) as found from XPS analysis, may act as electron acceptor and/or hole donor, facilitating longer lived charge carrier separation in Fe-doped CeO2 films as confirmed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The 1.50 mol% Fe-doped CeO2 film was found to be the optimal iron doping concentration for MO degradation in this study.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't