Alkali-free synthesis of a novel heterostructured CeO 2-TiO 2 nanocomposite with high performance to reduce Cr(VI) under visible light

摘要

AbstractIn this study, a novel CeO2-TiO2nanocomposite denoted as CeO2-3TiO2was 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 CeO2-3TiO2is 18 times higher than that of pure CeO2, 28 times higher than pure TiO2, 15 times higher than the sample of simply mixed CeO2and TiO2. The solution with Cr(VI) initial concentration of 2780 ppb can be fast photoreduced by CeO2-3TiO2in 60min under visible light to meet the criterion of U.S. Environmental protection Agency. Characterization results indicate CeO2-3TiO2has 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 abstractDisplay Omitted]]>