Facile Preparation of Self-Assembled MXene-CeO2 Composite with High Dye Removal Performances

Cubic fluorite CeO2 has band gap energy similar to that of TiO2, exhibiting a certain photocatalytic activity, and it can be widely used to adsorb and degrade various organic dyes. Herein, self-assembled MXene-CeO2 composites with CeO2 nanoparticles uniformly loaded on the surface and between the layers of MXene was prepared by the hydrothermal method. Through the microstructure analysis of MXene-CeO2 composites, it was proved that the MXene could not only effectively prevented the accumulation of CeO2 nanoparticles during the production process but also provided a large attachment site for the generation of nanoparticles. In addition, the self-assembled MXene-CeO2 exhibited good adsorption efficiency for adsorption of the cationic dyes rhodamine B (RhB) and methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet light irradiation. Therefore, the prepared MXene-CeO2 composite nanomaterial has significantly higher performance in degrading dyes and can be widely used in wastewater treatment.