Investigation of Ce-TiO2 photocatalyst and its application in asphalt- based specimens for NO degradation

- The Ce-TiO2 photocatalyst was prepared and the doping of Ce improved the photocatalytic ability of TiO2.
- The crystal structure and electronic structure of the Ce-TiO2 were calculated by the First Principles.
- The application of Ce-TiO2 photocatalyst in asphalt pavement was explored.

In order to improve the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 and apply it in asphalt pavement to degrade the pollutants in atmosphere, cerium nitrate was used as the doping source to prepare the Ce doped TiO2 photocatalyst and the crystal structure and electronic structure of the Ce-TiO2 were calculated by the First Principles. The results show that the doping of Ce causes these phenomena: a distortion in the crystal lattice, a shifting of the center of the positive and negative charge in the crystal, a reduction of orbital degeneracy and an increase of the number of excited electrons. These leads to an improvement in the photocatalytic ability of TiO2. Secondly, the photocatalytic activity of Ce-TiO2 was evaluated by the photodegradation test of methylene blue (MB). The study found that the degradation efficiency showed a trend of first rising and then falling with the increase of Ce contents. Finally, photocatalytic asphalt-based specimens were prepared by direct mixing, surface spraying, Ce-TiO2 coating and zeolite particle loading of Ce-TiO2. Relatively speaking, the specimens prepared by the method of surface spraying Ce-TiO2 dispersion have a better NO removal effect.