Kinetics Study of Photocatalytic Activity of Flame-Made Unloaded and Fe-Loaded CeO 2

Unloaded CeO2 and nominal 0.50, 1.00, 1.50, 2.00, 5.00, and 10.00 mol% Fe-loaded CeO2 nanoparticles were synthesized by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP). The samples were characterized to obtain structure-activity relation by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry (UV-vis DRS). XRD results indicated that phase structures of Fe-loaded CeO2 nanoparticles were the mixture of CeO2 and Fe2O3 phases at high iron loading concentrations. HRTEM images showed the significant change in morphology from cubic to almost-spherical shape observed at high iron loading concentration. Increased specific surface area with increasing iron content was also observed. The results from UV-visible reflectance spectra clearly showed the shift of absorption edge towards longer visible region upon loading CeO2 with iron. Photocatalytic studies showed that Fe-loaded CeO2 sample exhibited higher activity than unloaded CeO2, with optimal 2.00 mol% of iron loading concentration being the most active catalyst. Results from XPS analysis suggested that iron in the Fe3+ state might be an active species responsible for enhanced photocatalytic activities observed in this study

Role of Gd in Enhancing the Charge Carrier Mobility of Spray Deposited BiVO4 Photoanodes

The emergence of bismuth vanadate BiVO4 as one of the most promising photoanodes for solar water splitting is largely driven by the successful efforts of dopant introduction and optimization to improve its photoelectrochemical PEC performance. To this end, although less commonly used, several trivalent ions e.g., Sm3 , In3 , Gd3 that substitute Bi3 have also been demonstrated to be effective dopants, which can increase the photocurrent density of BiVO4 photoanodes. However, the main factor behind such improvement is still unclear, as various explanations have been proposed in the literature. Herein, Gd3 is introduced to substitute Bi3 in spray deposited BiVO4 films, which enables up to a 2 fold increase in the photocurrent density. Further PEC analysis suggests that Gd doping enhances the charge carrier separation in the BiVO4 films and does not affect the catalytic and optical properties. Indeed, time resolved microwave conductivity TRMC measurements reveal that the charge carrier mobility of BiVO4 is increased by 50 with the introduction of Gd while the charge carrier lifetime is unaffected. This increase of mobility is rationalized to be a result of a higher degree of monoclinic lattice distortion in Gd doped BiVO4, as evident from the X ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy data. Overall, these findings provide important insights into the nature and the underlying role of Gd in improving the photoelectrochemical performance of BiVO4 photoanode

Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by CeO2 and Fe-doped CeO2 films under visible light irradiation

Undoped CeO2 and 0.50-5.00 mol% Fe-doped CeO2 nanoparticles were prepared by a homogeneous precipitation combined with homogeneous/impreganation method, and applied as photocatalyst films prepared by a doctor blade technique. The superior photocatalytic performances of the Fe-doped CeO2 films, compared with undoped CeO2 films, was ascribed mainly to a decrease in band gap energy and an increase in specific surface area of the material. The presence of Fe3+ as found from XPS analysis, may act as electron acceptor and/or hole donor, facilitating longer lived charge carrier separation in Fe-doped CeO2 films as confirmed by photoluminescence spectroscopy. The 1.50 mol% Fe-doped CeO2 film was found to be the optimal iron doping concentration for MO degradation in this study

Photocatalytic Activity under Visible Light of Fe-Doped CeO2 Nanoparticles Synthesized by Flame Spray Pyrolysis

CeO2 nanoparticles (undopedandFe-doped) were synthesised using flame spray pyrolysis with varying Fe-dopant oncentrations. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the absence of any impurity phases in all samples. BET(Brunauer,EmmettandTeller)tests showed that the average sizes of undoped and Fe-doped CeO2 particles were 6.39 and 5.94 nm,respectively. Specific surface area of the particles increased with increasing Fe-dopant concentration. High resolution transmission electron microscopy(HRTEM) revealed that the nanoparticles were either spherical or equiaxed in shape. UV–vis spectroscopy showed a shift of the adsorption edge towards longer wavelengths along with a decrease in the optical indirect band gap from 3.18 to 2.90 eV for undoped particles and 2 mol% Fe-doped particles. In terms of photocatalytic performance, Fe-doped CeO2 nanoparticles were responsible for an increased degradation of the carbon from formic and oxalic acids. Furthermore,the photocatalytic efficiency was 100% when 2 mol%Fe-doped CeO2 particleswere used for testing