Facile sonochemical synthesis of Cu doped CeO2 nanostructures as a novel dual-functional photocatalytic adsorbent.

In this paper, doped CeO2 nanostructures with various percentages of copper were synthesized via a simple sonochemical method. Sonication was conducted using a high-intensity ultrasonic probe operating at 20 kHz with a maximum power output of 80 Wcm-3. The effects of different parameters such as ultrasonic time and power, solvent, and OH- source on the morphology of final products were well investigated. XRD, EDS, XPS, SEM, TEM, and DRS analyzes were utilized for precise identification of as-synthesized samples. Then, the adsorption capability in the dark and photocatalytic activity of nanostructures under visible light were evaluated for methyl orange degradation. The results showed that doped samples have a very favorable adsorption in the dark and 5 wt% Cu/CeO2 with flower-like morphology can adsorb more than 99% of the color at 45 min. Also, photocatalytic activity under visible light showed a degradation of more than 81% and 99% for samples 2 wt% Cu/CeO2 and 5 wt% Cu/CeO2, respectively, after 45 min.