Visible Light Photocatalytic Activity of CeO2-ZnO-TiO2 Composites for the Degradation of Rhodamine B

TiO2 plays a significant role in many applications including solar cell. Consecutively to absorb the low-energy radiation, it is very much essential to tune the optical property of TiO2. We fabricated CeO2-ZnO-TiO2 semiconductor composites by sol-gel method and achieved the absorption of lower energy radiation. The prepared composites were characterized by TG-DTA, UV-DRS, XRD, AFM, TEM and FESEM techniques. The particle and crystalline size of the composites was calculated using FESEM and XRD techniques, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized composite for the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation was investigated. The photocatalytic degradation of RhB under various experimental conditions such as amount of catalyst, initial dye concentration and H2O2 amount was also demonstrated and the rate constant was calculated using L-H model

Novel photochemical reaction of itaconatopentamminecobalt(III) ion to produce a room temperature luminescent compound

Irradiation of itaconatopentamminecobalt(III) perchlorate complex in the ligand to metal charge transfer absorption band in aqueous solution using 254 nm radiation produced an oxidised ligand free radical, which further reacts with itaconatopentamminecobalt(III) ion and also by radical dimerisation reaction to form a compound which shows broad absorption at ~265 nm and emission at ~425 nm. The compound is identified to be a derivative of itaconic acid. The photoproduct shows two lifetimes of 1.5±0.1 ns and 5.5±0.5 ns indicating that the photoproduct decomposes at room temperature to give a second compound which is also luminescent

Direct growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on silicon substrate by spray pyrolysis of Glycine max oil

Vertically aligned carbon nanotubes have been synthesized by spray pyrolysis from Glycine max oil on silicon substrate using ferrocene as catalyst at 650 °C. Glycine max oil, a plant-based hydrocarbon precursor was used as a source of carbon and argon as a carrier gas. The as-grown vertically aligned carbon nanotubes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopic images reveal that the dense bundles of aligned carbon nanotubes. High resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy observations indicate that as-grown aligned carbon nanotubes are well graphitized