Synthesis and Characterization of Visible Light Active Cerium Zirconate

Due to the toxicity of organic compounds like dyes environmental pollution increases day by day. So it is essential to develop a technique which can decompose these toxic compounds effectively without creating any further toxicity. In this paper, we reported synthesis and characterization of visible light active cerium zirconate via solid state calcination method at 800°C. In Solid state calcination reaction, highly photoactive powder of cerium zirconate was obtained by heating a 1:1 molar mixture of zirconyl oxychloride (ZrOCl₂.8H₂O) and ceric nitrate (Ce(NO₃)₄.6H₂O ) at 800°c for 24 hrs. The prepared photocatalysts were then characterized by XRD and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance analyses. The XRD spectra of as prepared sample can be indexed and matches with the Ce0.5Zr0.5O₂ (ICDD file 00-038-1436) having tetragonal structure with space group P42/nmc. The highest intensity of the (111) peak suggests that nano particles of CZ-SSR are growing along the (200) plane, providing active surface area for photocatalysis.