Microwave-Induced Combustion Design of Macro-Structured Sponge-Like CeO۲ Nanophotocatalyst: Impressive Degradation of Crystal Violet and Acid Orange ۷

In this research, the visible-light-active CeO۲ nanophotocatalyst has been prepared by microwave combustion method which has shown a macro and sponge like structure and its performance was evaluated in the degradation of crystal violet (CV) and acid orange ۷ (AO۷). As a result, CeO۲ could approximately eliminate ۵ mg/L CV and ۵۰ mg/L AO۷ at about ۹۳.۹ and ۷۳.۱% after ۱۵۰ min irradiation, respectively. The mentioned nanophotocatalyst was characterized by XRD and FESEM analyses. The high activity of this nanophotocatalyst could be devoted to the formation of defects in which might have been increased the light harvesting as well as the range of light absorption by macro-structured sponge-like CeO۲. Therefore, the amount of excitons (electron-hole pairs) will increase and their recombination rate decrease. Besides, the existence of macropores could help to improve and promote the surface adsorption of pollutants molecules