CeO₂-ZnO hexagonal nanodisks: Efficient material for the degradation of direct blue 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent under solar light

Highlights: • Synthesis of CeO₂-ZnO hexagonal nanodisks. • Excellent morphological, crystalline and photoluminescent properties. • Solar light responsive photocatalyst for degradation of direct blue 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent. - Abstract: Well-crystalline CeO₂-ZnO hexagonal nanodisks were synthesized by simple and facile chemical reaction process at low-temperature and characterized in detail by using several techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) emission spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The detailed characterizations results revealed that the prepared samples are well-crystalline with good optical and structural properties and possessing hexagonal morphologies. Further, the prepared material was used as efficient photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of highly hazardous direct blue (DB)-15 dye under solar light irradiation. The CeO₂-ZnO hexagonal nanodisks exhibited superior photocatalytic performance towards the degradation of DB 15 dye and its simulated dye bath effluent under solar light. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of CeO₂-ZnO hexagonal nanodisks could be attributed to the suppression of photo-induced e⁻/h⁺ pair recombination. Moreover, various scavengers have been used to study the role of reactive species in the photo-degradation process