Role of ZnO-CeO2 Nanostructures as a Photo-catalyst and Chemi-sensor

ZnO-CeO2 nanostructures were synthesized by simple and effcient low temperature method. The structure and morphology of the ZnO-CeO2 nanostructures were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), which revealed elongated shaped CeO2 nanoparticles with diameters of 40–90 nm distributed on the surface of elongated ZnO nanostructures with diameters of 50–200 nm (edge–centre). Further the structure of the synthesized ZnO-CeO2 nanostructure was supported by Raman spectra and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). UV-vis absorption spectrum was used to confirm the optical properties of the CeO2 doped ZnO nanostructures. Photo-catalytic activity of CeO2 doped ZnO nanostructure was evaluated by degradation of acridine orange and methylene blue which degraded 84.55% and 48.65% in 170 min, respectively. ZnO-CeO2 nanostructures also showed good sensitivity (0.8331 μA·cm-2·(mol/l)-1) in short response time (10 s) by applying to chemical sensing using ethanol as a target compound by I-V technique. These degradation and chemical sensing properties of ZnO-CeO2 nanostructures are of great importance for the application of ZnO-CeO2 system as a photo-catalyst and chemical sensor.