Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance of N-Doped Ceria Prepared via Thermal Decomposition of CeCO3OH in an NH3 Atmosphere

Nitrogen dopant has been shown to significantly enhance the photocatalytic performance of CeO 2 , while most current nitrogen doping preparation methods were directly derived from CeO 2 . In this work, we offer a novel and advanced approach to prepare nitrogen-rich doped ceria with excellent photocatalytic performances by a thermal decomposition of CeCO 3 OH in an NH 3 contained atmosphere. It was found that the prepared CeCO 3 OH-NH 3 sample had the highest nitrogen doping content and oxygen vacancy concentration. During the breaking of chemical bonds in CeCO 3 OH and the formation of new bonds in ceria promoted the incorporation of nitrogen dopants, both on the surface and in the bulk, and the NH 3 -containing atmosphere boosted the nitrogen doping in the ceria lattice. Moreover, CeCO 3 OH-NH 3 also exhibited a higher TC (tetracycline) photodegradation ratio (68.35%) and a higher hydrogen production rate (45.74 μmol·h -1 ·g -1 ) via hydrolysis. Radical trapping experiments confirmed that photogenerated h + and e - played key roles in TC degradation, and the possible mechanism of the photocatalytic performance enhancement in nitrogen-doped ceria was discussed. The developed nitrogen doping method for CeO 2 and the findings of this work may further benefit the high-performance ceria-based catalysts design and offer a new understanding of the nitrogen doped ceria.