Mesoporous Ce-Pr-O solid solution with efficient photocatalyticactivity under weak daylight irradiation

tIn this study, the application of mesoporous CeO2and Pr doped CeO2(Ce Pr O) as photocatalysts forthe degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) from aqueous solution was investigated. Mesoporous CeO2andCe Pr O were prepared using SBA-15 as template. The resultant samples were characterized by XRD,N2adsorption–desorption, Raman, UV–vis, TEM, FT-IR, and XPS techniques. The characterization resultsshow that the synthesized Ce Pr O has a 2D hexagonal structure, similar to that of the template, andpossesses numerous oxygen vacancies. It is worth mentioning that the visible light adsorption intensityof Ce Pr O is much higher than that of mesoporous ceria and bulk ceria, due to simultaneous formationof doping level and mesopores. The photodegradation of RhB illustrates that the synthesized mesoporousCe Pr O, especially 45% Ce Pr O, performs excellent decolorization under weak daylight irradiation.Furthermore, a novel photodegradation mechanism was proposed based on the adsorption of H2O2overthe oxygen vacancy.