Ordered mesoporous Ag/CeO2 nanocrystalline via silica-templated solution combustion for enhanced photocatalytic performance

The various ordered mesoporous Ag/CeO 2 catalysts were successfully prepared using a facile silica-templated solution combustion synthesis method (TSCS). Utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), photoluminescence (PL) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrometry (DRS), etc., the morphological, structural, crystalline, surface and optical properties of Ag/CeO 2 were investigated. It was found that the removal of the template (SiO 2 ) resulted in the formation of ultrafine mesoporous Ag/CeO 2 composites, and the specific surface area increased to 98.6 m 2 /g. The 15 % Ag/CeO 2 composite showed the best photocatalytic performance (97 % at 120 min), which was approximately 10 times higher as compared to the conventional SCS (Solution Combustion Synthesized) CeO 2 . In addition, a mechanism of the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was proposed, where the reactive species ·O 2 − and h + played important roles in the degradation of pollutants.