Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Degradation Efficiency of Ce4+ -Doped ZrO2/ZnO Nanocomposites Fabricated by a Simple Hydrothermal Method.

We report a facile synthesis of Ce⁴⁺ -doped ZrO₂/ZnO nanocomposites by a simple ultrasonic-assisted hydrothermal method. The ZrO₂/ZnO:x mol% Ce⁴⁺ composites were then characterized by x-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), The ζ potential, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and elemental mapping, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results indicated that the ZrO₂/ZnO:x%Ce⁴⁺ composites have nanospherical morphology with average particle sizes less than 50 nm and bandgap values of 3.13–3.17 eV. The XPS spectrum confirmed the existence of a Ce⁴⁺/Ce³⁺ pair, which effectively prevents e^–/h⁺ recombination, contributing to the enhanced photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes of photocatalysts. The Ce⁴⁺-doped ZrO₂/ZnO composites gave the high degradation, 66.88–91.23%, for Rhodamine B under visible-light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]