Ceria and titania incorporated silica based catalyst prepared from rice husk: Adsorption and photocatalytic studies of methylene blue

• Titania and ceria were incorporated into silica by simple sol–gel process.
• RHS-50Ti10Ce exhibited excellent adsorption and photocatalytic activity for MB
• The excellent photocatalytic activity was attributed to the presence of ceria.

Titania and ceria incorporated rice husk silica based catalyst was synthesized via sol–gel method using CTAB and glycerol as surface directing agents at room temperature and labeled as RHS-50Ti10Ce. The catalyst was used to study the adsorption and photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV irradiation. The powder XRD pattern of RHS-50Ti10Ce was much broader (2θ = 25–30°) than that of the parent RHS (2θ = 22°). The catalyst exhibited type IV isotherm with H3 hysteresis loop, and the TEM images showed partially ordered pore arrangements. The TGA–DTG thermograms confirmed the complete removal of the templates after calcination at 500 °C. RHS-50Ti10Ce exhibited excellent adsorption capability with more than 99% removal of MB from a 40 mg L−1 solution in just 15 min. It also decolorized an 80 mg L−1 MB solution under UV irradiation in 210 min, which was comparable with the commercialized pure anatase TiO2.

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