Synthesis of Chinleite(Ce) composite through ceric ammonium nitrate, graphite and its conversion to CeO2/RGO for removal of crystal violet from water
摘要
The present work reports novel chemical synthesis of a recently discovered rare earth metal-based mineral, NaCe(SO4)2.H2O Chinleite-(Ce) composite (S1) synthesized by chemical method comprising reaction of ceric ammonium nitrate, NaNO3, graphite and H2O2 in acidic medium consisting H2SO4. NaCe(SO4)2.H2O composite, appeared black-grey solid that was characterized by analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Powder X- ray diffraction (PXRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Energy dispersive X- ray analysis (EDAX), and Raman spectroscopy. Optical band gap estimation was performed using UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). Chinleite-(Ce) composite upon treatment with NaOH converts to material CeO2/RGO composite (S2) that exhibit photocatalytic activity towards crystal violet (CV) in natural light and also shows appreciable adsorption in dark. Degradation ability of NaCe(SO4)2.H2O Chinleite-(Ce) composite and CeO2/RGO composite was compared, wherein former results in only 52.6% degradation, while later degraded 93.4% crystal violet in the presence of sunlight within 40 min. Dye removal capacity of S1 and S2 was measured in dark and the values found are 10% and 85.5% respectively. Results show high adsorption of CV dye on S2. The differences in dye removal capacity of S1 and S2 were explained by zeta potential. Thermal characteristics and stabilities of S1 and S2 were measured using thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA).