Acid-Base and Photocatalytic Properties of the CeO<sub>2</sub>-Ag Nanocomposites
Alexander A. Kravtsov,
Andrey V. Blinov,
Andrey A. Nagdalian,
Alexey A. Gvozdenko,
Alexey B. Golik,
Maxim A. Pirogov,
Maxim A. Kolodkin,
Naiyf S. Alharbi,
Shine Kadaikunnan,
Muthu Thiruvengadam,
Mohammad Ali Shariati
Affiliations
Alexander A. Kravtsov
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Andrey V. Blinov
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Andrey A. Nagdalian
Laboratory of Food and Industrial Biotechnology, Faculty of Food Engineering and Biotechnology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Alexey A. Gvozdenko
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Alexey B. Golik
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Maxim A. Pirogov
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Maxim A. Kolodkin
Faculty of Physics and Technology, North Caucasus Federal University, 1 Pushkin Str., 355017 Stavropol, Russia
Naiyf S. Alharbi
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Shine Kadaikunnan
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Muthu Thiruvengadam
Department of Applied Bioscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea
Mohammad Ali Shariati
Semey Branch of the Institute, Kazakh Research Institute of Processing and Food Industry, 238G Gagarin Ave., Almaty 050060, Kazakhstan
In this work, CeO2 nanoparticles, as well as CeO2 nanocomposites with plasmonic silver nanoparticles, were synthesized using a simple sol-gel process. The concentration of silver in the composites varied from 0.031–0.25 wt%. Cerium hydroxide dried gel was calcined at temperatures from 125 to 800 °C to obtain CeO2. It was shown that, at an annealing temperature of 650 °C, single-phase CeO2 nanopowders with an average particle size in the range of 10–20 nm can be obtained. The study of acid-base properties showed that with an increase in the calcination temperature from 500 to 650 °C, the concentration of active centers with pKa 9.4 and 6.4 sharply increases. An analysis of the acid-base properties of CeO2-Ag nanocomposites showed that with an increase in the silver concentration, the concentration of centers with pKa 4.1 decreases, and the number of active centers with pKa 7.4 increases. In a model experiment on dye photodegradation, it was shown that the resulting CeO2 and CeO2-Ag nanopowders have photocatalytic activity. CeO2-Ag nanocomposites, regardless of the silver concentration, demonstrated better photocatalytic activity than pure nanosized CeO2.
