Silver decorated CeO₂ nanoparticles for rapid photocatalytic degradation of textile rose bengal dye

High quality silver (Ag) decorated CeO₂ nanoparticles were prepared by a facile one-step chemical method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FT-IR), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Visible absorption (UV-Vis), photoluminescence (PL) and thermogravimetric analysis. The decoration of Ag on CeO₂ surface was confirmed by XRD, EPR and HR-TEM analysis. Harmful textile pollutant Rose Bengal dye was degraded under sunlight using the novel Ag decorated CeO₂ catalyst. It was found that great enhancement of the degradation efficiency for Ag/CeO₂ compared to pure CeO₂, it can be ascribed mainly due to decrease in its band gap and charge carrier recombination rate. The Ag/CeO₂ sample exhibited an efficient photocatalytic characteristic for degrading RB under visible light irradiation with a high degradation rate of 96% after 3 h. With the help of various characterizations, a possible degradation mechanism has been proposed which shows the effect of generation of oxygen vacancies owing to the decoration of Ag on the CeO₂ surface.