Facile Synthesis of Ce–Doped SnO ₂ Nanoparticles: A Promising Photocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution and Dyes Degradation

This report discussed the efficient hydrogen generation via water splitting and fast dye degradation pathway using Ce doped SnO ₂ nanoparticles. One pot synthesis of Ce doped SnO ₂ nanoparticles was carried out by a simple, convenient wet chemical method using H ₂ O ₂ and the product obtained was characterized using array of physico-chemical techniques. Powder X-ray diffraction confirmed the presence of rutile phase. Band gap for Ce:SnO ₂ was found out to be 3.80 eV which is more than the pure SnO ₂ (3.71 eV) and it is due to Moss-Burstein effect. EDAX analysis and elemental mapping support uniform distribution of 5% Ce and the SEM imaging depicts irregular shape of nanocrystallites. The doping of 5% Ce into the interstitial and lattice positions of SnO ₂  nanoparticles was also confirmed by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. Raman measurement and photoluminescence analysis showed the presence of oxygen vacancies and disorderness in the nanoparticles. Photocatalytic water splitting proficiency was investigated using Ce doped SnO ₂  nanomaterials in the presence of NiO as co-catalyst and other different sacrificial reagents such as methanol, Na ₂ S-Na ₂ SO ₃ , EDTA ions, triethanolamine and in combinations. It was found that the evolution of H ₂  is maximum i. e. 25 μmol/g/h in presence of as-synthesized catalyst, NiO (co-catalyst) along with EDTA and methanol as scavengers under UV light irradiation. Further, the degradation of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes was investigated under UV-Visible irradiation using Ce:SnO ₂ NPs.