The influence of Ce doping of titania on the photodegradation of phenol

MARCELA V. MARTIN; PAULA I. VILLABRILLE; ROSSO, JANINA A.

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

Lugar: Heidelberg; Año: 2015 vol. 22 p. 14291 - 14298

0944-1344

Abstract Pure and cerium-doped [0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and1.0 Ce nominal atomic % (at.%)] TiO2 was synthesizedby the sol?gel method. The obtained catalysts were characterizedby X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV?visible diffusedreflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman, and BETsurface area measurement. The photocatalytic activity ofsynthesized samples for the oxidative degradation of phenolin aqueous suspension was investigated. The contentof Ce in the catalysts increases both the transition temperaturefor anatase to rutile phase transformation andthe specific surface area, and decreases the crystallitesize of anatase phase, the crystallinity, and the bandgap energy value. The material with higher efficiencycorresponds to 0.1 Ce nominal at.%. Under irradiationwith 350 nm lamps, the degradation of phenol could bedescribed as an exponential trend, with an apparent rateconstant of (9.1 ± 0.6) 10−3 s−1 (r2=0.98). Hydroquinonewas identified as the main intermediate.