(93f) Synthesis and Characterization of Ce and N Co-Doping of Titania Mesoporous Nanoparticles for the Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity

Ce and N co-doped titania mesoporous nanoparticles were prepared through sol-gel method by using the polyethylene glycols as template for the porous structure, cerium nitrate as cerium and urea as nitrogen precursors. The prepared mesoporous nanoparticles were characterized through various techniques like BET pore size and surface area, X-ray Diffraction,  FTIR, Diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence spectra, etc. The BET pore size and surface area results showed the nanoparticles with high pore sizes and large surface areas, whereas XRD of the nanoparticles showed the only single phase anatase type of titania with the crystallite size between 20-30 nm meter range. FTIR results for the synthesized nanoparticles indicated the increase in the surface hydroxyl groups with the subsequent increase in the amount of Ce in the mesoporous nanoparticles. The photoluminescence studies for the nanoparticles showed the decrease of the light induced recombination of the electron and holes. The photocatalytic activity of the mesoporous nanoparticles was evaluated by the reduction of Acid Orange 7 dye under the presence of visible light. The results of the photodegradation of the dye indicated that the co-doped samples enhanced the degradation of the dye significantly due to the above mentioned reasons of the high surface area, large pore sized, increased surface hydroxyl groups and decreased recombinations of the electrons and holes.