Tuning The physicochemical Properties of CeO2 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytic and Anticancer Performance by Zn Doping

Semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their potential applications, such as optoelectronic devices, environmental remediation, energy conversion, and biomedical. This work was designed to tailor the physicochemical properties of CeO2 NPs by Zn doping at different concentrations (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03) to improve their photocatalytic and anticancer performance. The modified co-precipitation route was fruitfully applied to prepare ZnxCe1-xO2 NPs (with 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.03). Different characterization facilities like XRD, TEM, SEM, EDX, FTIR, and PL spectroscopy have been employed to examine the properties of these prepared NPs. XRD data revealed that the crystallite of NPs was changed after Zn doping with the decrease of its crystal sizes. TEM and SEM imaging discovered that the NPs were further sphere-shaped with homogenous distribution. Moreover, SEM elemental mapping with EDX confirmed that the elements (Ce, O, and Zn) in prepared NPs have uniform distribution and chemical composition in prepared Zn0·03Ce0·97O2 NPs. FTIR results determined the functional groups in the prepared NPs. PL spectra observed a decrease in the recombination of electron (e−)-hole (h+) pair with increasing Zn doping due to a change in bandgap energy. Photocatalytic data indicates that the photodegradation efficiency (D) of Rh B dye of Zn0·03Ce0·97O2NPs(75.5%) under UV light during 100 min was greater than pure CeO2 NPs. Cytotoxicity analysis showed that the anticancer effect of CeO2 NPs against human liver cancer (HepG2) increases with the addition of Zn ions. Additionally, these results indicated that the addition of Zn ions to CeO2 NPs plays a role in killing cancer cells at higher concentrations. This study recommended that these NPs could be applied to potential applications in environmental pollution and cancer therapy in vivo studies.