Design and synthesis of Fe–Ce–O@C with efficient photocatalytic activity

Fe–Ce–OH@AR14 was obtained via the adsorption of acid red 14 (AR14) on Fe–Ce–OH prepared by the codeposition of cerium nitrate hexahydrate, ferric nitrate nonahydrate, and ammonia, and then Fe–Ce–O@C with high photocatalyic efficiency was synthesized by the calcination of Fe–Ce–OH@AR14 in N2. For comparison, Fe–Ce–O was also prepared by the calcination of Fe–Ce–OH in N2. The obtained materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron miscroscopy (SEM), photoluminescence (PL), ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV–vis) techniques and the results show that the band gap of CeO2 can be greatly reduced by doping of Fe3+, and that loading carbon from the decomposition of AR14 can prolong carrier life, improve the intensity of visible light absorption, and enhance the concentration of oxygen vacancies. The photocatalytic results using AR14 as probe molecule illustrate that using 1% ferric nitrate nonahydrate (the mass percentage of ferric nitrate nonahydrate to cerium nitrate hexahydrate) as dopant and 25 mL of 0.01 mmol/L AR14 as loading carbon resource is helpful for the photocatalytic efficiency of CeO2.