Significant Photocatalytic Performance Enhancement of TiO₂ by CeO₂ Atomic Layer Deposition

Abstract

Different cycles (10-80) of CeO2 were coated on TiO2 nanoparticles by atomic layer deposition (ALD) using tris(i-propylcyclopentadienyl)cerium and de-ionized water as precursors at 250°C in a fluidized bed reactor. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that TiO2 kept anatase structure after CeO2 ALD. With an increase in the number of ALD coating cycles, both photoluminescence intensity and band gap of the samples continuously decreased. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated based on the degradation of methylene blue (MB) solution under UV light. The photocatalysis experiment demonstrated that 40 cycles of CeO2 deposited TiO2 sample (40Ce/TiO2) showed the highest photocatalytic activity and had a more than three-fold activity enhancement over uncoated TiO2 for the degradation of MB. The enhanced photocatalytic activity was attributed to the fact that CeO2 played a role as e-/h+ pair trap centers and consequently reduced e-/h+ pair recombination rate.

Department(s)

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Aromatic Compounds; Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD); Atoms; Catalysis; Chemical Reactors; Deposition; Energy Gap; Fluid Catalytic Cracking; Fluidized Beds; Photocatalysis; Titanium Compounds; Titanium Dioxide; X Ray Diffraction Analysis; Activity Enhancement; CeO2; Fluidized Bed Reactors; Photocatalytic Activities; Photocatalytic Performance; Photoluminescence Intensities; TiO2; Trap Center; Cerium Compounds

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0957-4484; 1361-6528

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2017 Institute of Physics - IOP Publishing, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Dec 2017

PubMed ID

29099389

Link to Full Text

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