CeO2ZnO hexagonal nanodisks: Efficient material for the degradation of direct blue 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent under solar light

•Synthesis of CeO2ZnO hexagonal nanodisks.•Excellent morphological, crystalline and photoluminescent properties.•Solar light responsive photocatalyst for degradation of direct blue 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent.

Well-crystalline CeO2ZnO hexagonal nanodisks were synthesized by simple and facile chemical reaction process at low-temperature and characterized in detail by using several techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The detailed characterizations results revealed that the prepared samples are well-crystalline with good optical and structural properties and possessing hexagonal morphologies. Further, the prepared material was used as efficient photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of highly hazardous direct blue (DB)-15 dye under solar light irradiation. The CeO2ZnO hexagonal nanodisks exhibited superior photocatalytic performance towards the degradation of DB 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent under solar light. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of CeO2ZnO hexagonal nanodisks could be attributed to the suppression of photo-induced e−/h+ pair recombination. Moreover, various scavengers have been used to study the role of reactive species in the photo-degradation process.

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