Facile Synthesis of Ce–Doped SnO₂ Nanoparticles: A Promising Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution and Dyes Degradation

Abstract

This report discussed the efficient hydrogen generation via water splitting and fast dye degradation pathway using Ce doped SnO 2 nanoparticles. One pot synthesis of Ce doped SnO 2 nanoparticles was carried out by a simple, convenient wet chemical method using H 2 O 2 and the product obtained was characterized using array of physico-chemical techniques. Powder X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of rutile phase. Band gap for Ce:SnO 2 was found out to be 3.80 eV which is more than the pure SnO 2 (3.71 eV) and it is due to Moss-Burstein effect. EDAX analysis and elemental mapping support uniform distribution of 5% Ce and the SEM imaging depicts irregular shape of nanocrystallites. The doping of 5% Ce into the interstitial and lattice positions of SnO 2 nanoparticles was also confirmed by the X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy analysis. Raman measurement and photoluminescence analysis showed the presence of oxygen vacancies and disorderness in the nanoparticles. Photocatalytic water splitting proficiency was investigated using Ce doped SnO 2 nanomaterials in the presence of NiO as co-catalyst and other different sacrificial reagents such as methanol, Na 2 S-Na 2 SO 3 , EDTA ions, triethanolamine and in combinations. It was found that the evolution of H 2 is maximum i. e. 25 μmol/g/h in presence of as-synthesized catalyst, NiO (co-catalyst) along with EDTA and methanol as scavengers under UV light irradiation. Further, the degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes was investigated under UV-Visible irradiation using Ce: SnO 2 NPs.[a] Dr.

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“…8), possesses tetragonal symmetry, and adopts the P4 2 /mnm (D 14 4h ) space group, with a = b = 4.755 Å and c = 3.199 Å. 106 The crystal structure of SnO 2 is a slightly distorted octahedra with six coordination from oxygen ions in the vicinity of the central Sn(IV) metal ion. Fig.…”

Low-cost ultra-sensitive SnO2-based ammonia sensor synthesized by hydrothermal method

“…The energy bandgap (E g ) values of pure and Ce-doped SnO 2 nanoparticles using the Tauc's plots are found to be 3.35 and 3.44 eV, respectively. Inclusion of Ce ion into the SnO 2 lattice produces in the blue shift of the band due to Burstein-Moss effect [37].…”

Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution by novel Nb-doped SnO2/V2O5 heteronanostructures under visible light with simultaneous basic red 46 dye degradation

“…Besides SnO 2 coupling with other semiconductors to form heterostructures, some strategies, including tuning the morphology, plasmonic coupling with noble metals, as well as band gap engineering by doping with metal, and nonmetal atoms have been adopted to extend the photoresponse into visible spectral range and improve charge carriers separation rate [6]. It has been disclosed that some metal dopants such as Cu, Sb, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Mg, Ce, and V can escort to enhance the photoactivity of SnO 2 photocatalysts [15][16][17][18][19]. The use of a substituent with a higher electron valence number than Sn 4+ can lead to some deep level states introduced into the band gap of SnO 2 below the conduction band (CB), which allows SnO 2 to absorb visible light [20].…”