Investigating the efficacy of Palladium Doped Ceria for the Photodegradation of Azo Dyes

Abstract

Ceria (CeO2) was prepared by microwave assisted precipitation method while sonothermal method was utilized for the synthesis of palladium doped ceria (Pd-CeO2) photocatalyst. HR-TEM analysis confirms the face centered cubic geometry (FCC) of CeO2. The particle size of Pd-CeO2 calculated from HR-TEM analysis (7.6 ± 2.18 nm) is in close relation with XRD (8.25±0.25 nm). The SAED pattern of Pd-CeO2 shows the poly crystallinity where the D-spacing was 0.31 and 0.30 nm which corresponds to CeO2 and Pd crystal facets 111 and 100 respectively. The amount of dopant and existence of Pd, Ce and O was confirmed from EDX spectra and elemental mapping. BET surface area analysis of CeO2 (64.45 m2/g), Pd-CeO2 (60.20 m²/g) revealed that the decrease in the surface area of CeO2 due to Pd loading which is confirmed by pore volume (0.079 cm³/g) for CeO2 and pore volume for Pd-CeO2 (0.073 cm³/g). The photocatalytic activity of Pd-CeO2 was screened against a model azo dye Acid red-4 (AR-4). The fluctuation of the rate of photodegradation (PD) of AR-4 was observed under different reaction conditions. Therefore, the reaction parameters were optimized to achieve best catalytic activity up to PD; 98 %. The kinetic study suggests that the PD of AR-4 follows 1st order kinetics with regression coefficient (R2=0.973) and rate constant (k = 0.024/min). Recycling study revealed the prolong use of catalyst without significant loss of activity. DFT study and experiments revealed the synergism of Pd on the photo response of CeO2. Perhaps this synergistic effect due to metal support interaction, causes redistribution of charges and Fermi energy levels. The synthesized catalyst showed potential application for the treatment of textile industrial effluents. © 2024