Development and characterization of CeO2 polishing powder: Calculation of microstructure parameters using XRD profile analysis and its heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation process investigation
摘要
To develop a semiconductor Fenton-like oxidation process, CeO2 polishing powder (labelled as CP-2) was explored as heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of Neutral red phenazine dye in aqueous solution. A comparative study of various microstructural properties of nanoscale CP-2 were explicitly determined by XRD profile analysis using a variety of XRD models. The powdered material CP-2 was deeply analyzed using SEM, FT-IR, UV–vis-DRS and surface charge (pHPZC) technique. From the physical properties analysis, CP-2 powder exhibited three classes of the cumulative particle size distribution i.e. D50 of 1.35 µm, D10 of 0.61 µm and D90 of 6.21 µm, corroborating its polycrystallinity nature (CeO2 = 65 ± 5%, La2O3: 35 ± 5% and Pr2O3 ≤ 5%). XRD results revealed the formation of the LaCeOx substitution solid solution with the preservation of the crystalized cubic fluorite-type CeO2 phase. All the stated models demonstrated an acceptable crystallite size range of 26–32 nm. In comparison with SSP method, UD, UDED and H-W models displayed a minimal of microstrain (ε≈0.00011), trivial strains, defects and size-shape anisotropy in the CP-2 environment, while SSP method exhibited the highest intrinsic strain (ε = 0.0184) accredited to the lattice dislocations. Functional groups, especially the Ce–O and La–O bondings and Ce3+ electronic transition were corroborated by the FT-IR informations. SEM analysis showed randomly and irregularly shaped cluster of variable dimensions in the range of 715 nm-4.52 µm and 2.11–4.52 μm, respectively.The optical band gap of 3.0 eV and the pHpzc of 6.6 were obtained for CP-2 NPs. Ultimately, the the decomposition of H2O2 over CP-2 NPs is more sensitive to the pH parameter. The heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation process (NR/ H2O2/CP-2 sytem: 85.90% degradation) was synergetically enhanced within 60 min, outperforming the homogeneous (NR/H2O2 process: 12.60%) and surface adsorption (NR/CP-2 system: 67.36%). Experimental kinetic study was correlated with the Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic model for pseudo first order reaction (R2 = 0.70–0.92 and 0.56–0.86 for various degradation processes and pH solution, respectively). Consequently, the outstanding degradation of NR could be can be synergysticaly explained by the heterogeneous Fenton-like oxidation mechanism through the generation of the ROS (•OH/1O2 and OVs).These ROS-induced Fenton-like reaction in H2O2/CP-2 system, acting as strong oxidative species, could be primary factors in the RN eradication into harmless byproducts (CO2, H2O and NO3− etc.). Thus, H2O2/CP-2 catalystic system may be regarded as a sustainable option for destroying organic dye pollutants in aqueous solutions. Overall, the present results are expected to offer a potentially substantial reference for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of nanamaterial oxide.