In-situ growth of CeO₂/Ce(OH)CO₃ composites with enhanced photocatalytic activity by the incomplete conversion of CeO₂ to Ce(OH)CO₃

Abstract

In this paper, a novel strategy was used to grow CeO2/Ce(OH)CO3 composite in situ by the incomplete conversion of CeO2 to Ce(OH)CO3 using ethylene glycol (EG) as CO32- source and solvent. Interestingly, the content of Ce(OH)CO3 in CeO2/Ce(OH)CO3 composite can be controlled by changing the solvent composition. The obtained CeO2/Ce(OH)CO3 composite all exhibited enhanced photocatalytic performance for methylene blue (MB) degradation. The CeO2/Ce(OH)CO3 composite prepared at 200 °C for 24 h with a H2O/EG volume ratio of 0.5 showed the best visible-light activity with a degradation efficiency of 98.84% within 120 min. This work provided a novel method to fabricate basic rare earth carbonates and their composites for environmental purification.