UV-light driven photocatalytic performance of hydrothermally-synthesized hexagonal CePO4 nanorods

Hexagonal CePO 4 nanorods were synthesized via a simple hydrothermal method without the presence of surfactants and then characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. UV-light driven photocatalytic activities of hexagonal CePO 4 nanorods were detailedly demonstrated via degrading different organic dyes such as congo red (CR), organic rhodamine B (RB), methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) since these nanorods exhibit strong UV absorption with the cutoff edge of about 420 nm.