ZnAl 2 O 4 spinel nanoparticles and CeO 2 /ZnO/ZnAl 2 O 4 ternary nanocomposites were synthesized by a co-precipitation method. The structural, morphological, optical properties and chemical compositions of the products were analyzed respectively by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy. The optical band gap of ZnAl 2 O 4 spinel nanoparticles was 3.220 eV. When 1.0 mmol Ce(NO 3) 3 •6H 2 O was added to the synthesis reaction, the optical band gap of the obtained ternary nanocomposite was 3.170 eV. The influence of phase composition, optical band gap, oxygen vacancy and specific surface area on photocatalytic activity over CeO 2 /ZnO/ZnAl 2 O 4 ternary nanocomposites was investigated. The CeO 2 /ZnO/ZnAl 2 O 4 nanocomposite prepared with 1.0 mmol Ce(NO 3) 3 •6H 2 O showed the lowest recombination rate of photoexcited electron-hole pairs, the narrowest optical band gap (3.170 eV) and the highest oxygen vacancy concentration or highest Urbatch energy (0.299 eV). These parameters produced the best photocatalytic activity toward methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation. The CeO 2 /ZnO/ZnAl 2 O 4 ternary nanocomposites exhibited better photocatalytic performance than pure ZnAl 2 O 4 spinel nanoparticles and 100% degradation of aqueous MB solution was achieved within 60 min when using the CeO 2 /ZnO/ZnAl 2 O 4 ternary nanocomposite photocatalyst synthesized with 1.0 mmol Ce(NO 3) 3 •6H 2 O.

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ZnAl2O4 spinel nanoparticles and g-C3N4/ZnAl2O4 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by co-precipitation method. The influence of g-C3N4 loading contents on structural, morphological and optical properties was investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), respectively. The peak intensity of g-C3N4 increased as a function of g-C3N4 loading contents. The optical band gap values of g-C3N4/ZnAl2O4 nanocomposites were 3.10, 2.84, 2.82 and 2.80 eV when g-C3N4 loading contents were increased from 0 to 10, 20 and 30%, respectively. The photocatalytic activity increased as a function of g-C3N4 loading content. The 30% g-C3N4/ZnAl2O4 nanocomposites exhibited highest MB degradation of about 100% under visible light irradiation for 360 min.