A facile hydrothermal synthesis of CeO2 nanocubes decorated ZnO nanostructures: optical and enhanced photocatalytic properties

Synthesis of CeO2, ZnO, and CeO2 nanocubes decorated on the surface of ZnO ovals via a simple hydrothermal method was investigated. The crystalline nature and purity of CeO2, ZnO and CeO2 decorated ZnO were confirmed through X-ray diffraction (XRD) by the co-existence of cubic and hexagonal wurtzite phase of CeO2 and ZnO, respectively. The transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed that CeO2 nanocubes were well decorated on the surface of ZnO in oval morphology. The optical properties of the prepared materials were investigated using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra and also, the oxidation species presented in the materials were identified through X-photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra survey. The photocatalytic activity of CeO2 decorated ZnO nanostructures against methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant under visible light irradiation was enhanced when compared to those of the pure CeO2 and ZnO nanostructures. The reusability of catalyst studies revealed that the efficiency of the visibility light degradation of MB was increased upon the CeO2 deposited on the ZnO surfaces.