Fabrication of Ag-doped CeO₂ nanoparticles for the evaluation of their photocatalytic activity against the degradation of organic dyes and electrochemical sensing

CeO₂ and Ag-doped CeO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using glucose powder as fuel by a simple solution combustion method. Many analytical methods were used to characterize the synthesized materials, including X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy, Photoluminescence spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. X-ray diffraction data confirms the formation of a cubic phased cerianite structure with a space group of Fm-3m. CeO₂ and Ag-doped CeO₂ NPs have crystallite sizes between 14 and 57 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the generated NPs was investigated using methylene blue dye photodegradation while various parameters such as catalyst dosage, dye concentration, and pH were varied. Photocatalytic experiments demonstrated that 4.0% Ag-doping concentrations in doped (Ag) CeO₂ NPs are optimal for demonstrating superior degradation efficiency. For the detection of dopamine (DA), synthesized CeO₂ and Ag-doped CeO₂ were used as biosensors at very low concentrations using the Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) technique.