Controllable synthesis of CeO2/g-C3N4 hybrid catalysts and its structural, optical and visible light photocatalytic activity

Herein, we construct the visible light active CeO2/g-C3N4 hybrid nanocomposite catalysts via a facile hydrothermal method. Different mass ratio of CeO2 (5, 10 and 15 wt%) in to g-C3N4 was making to optimize the physic-chemical properties of the composites. Numerous studies such as XRD, TEM, Raman, UV-DRS, PL and BET was utilize to examine the structural, morphological and light absorption properties of the catalyst. Cubic structure with uniform spherical (25-35 nm) were consistently wrapped on the g-C3N4 nanosheet. The photocatalytic activity of the obtained catalyst was monitored using highly toxic hexavalent chromium and 2-nitrophenol abbreviation as Cr(VI) and 2-NP pollutants. The results showed that 15 wt% CeO2 demoralized g-C3N4 nanosheets possessed tremendous photocatalytic behavior such as high efficiency (96%), huge apparent rate of 1.2734 min(-1) and desirable long term stability. This could be due to the heterostructure provide huge surface area, smaller band gap as well as efficient charge separation, which enhancing the improved photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. The improved photocatalytic mechanism has also been proposed.