Design, Fabrication, and Characterization of N-Doped Decorated CeO2 Composite for Degradation of Malachite Green
نویسندگان
1 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kerbala, Kerbala, Iraq
2 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kerbala, Kerbala, Iraq
3 College of Applied Medical Science, University of Kerbala, Kerbala, Iraq
4 Presidency University of Kerbala, Kerbala, Iraq
5 Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Kerbala, Kerbala, Iraq
doi
10.22052/JNS.2025.02.023چکیده
In this work, CeO2 nanoparticles and N-doped GQDs decorated CeO2 nanocomposites were synthesized through a hydrothermal process and characterized using various spectroscopy techniques, such as: Photoluminescence (PL), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet and visible (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The structural analysis confirmed the formation of N-doped GQDs and their integration into CeO2, with various functional groups, for instance, hydroxyl, carbonyl, C=C, and C-N identified via FT-IR strategy. Optical characterization using ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) showed that N-doped GQDs decorated CeO2 composites exhibited a lower band gap (2.47 eV) compared to pure CeO2 (2.63 eV), enabling enhanced photocatalytic performance under UV-Vis waves conditions. The nanocomposite demonstrated superior degradation efficiency of malachite green (94%), compared to CeO2 alone (63%), due to band gap reduction and improved charge separation. Catalyst dosage optimization further confirmed that balanced loading enhances degradation efficiency. These findings highlight the potential of N-doped GQDs decorated CeO2 nanocomposites for environmental remediation and photocatalytic wastewater treatment applications.
