Efficiency of cerium oxide (CeO2) nano-catalyst in degrading the toxic and persistent 4-nitrophenol in aqueous solution

Abstract Cerium oxide (CeO2) generally termed as nanoceria is a rare earth metal oxide, that has become an vital key ingredient in many wide range of applications in different fields like gas sensors, ultraviolet absorbents, catalysis, solid oxide fuel cells, glass-polishing materials etc., In this work, Cerium oxide nanoparticles with uniform structure have been prepared by simple Chemical Precipitation method by using Cerium nitrate hexahydrate as the precursor. The synthesized nanoparticles have been characterised by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, EDAX, TEM, XPS etc., The results of the characterization studies revealed the formation of CeO2 nanoparticles. The photocatalytic ability of the synthesized nanoparticles was studied by degrading 4-nitrophenol dye under visible light irradiation.