Synthesis and characterization of Ceria incorporated Nickel oxide nanocomposite for promising degradation of methylene blue via photocatalysis

In this work, Cerium Nickel nanocomposite was synthesized and investigated as photocatalyst. Co-precipitation method was used successfully to synthesize Ce-Ni oxides. Couple of characterization techniques such as XRD (powder X-ray Diffraction), FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope), UV-Vis spectroscopy, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy) were used to explore the structure, size and morphology of the synthesized photocatalyst. The nanocomposite particle size was average out to be approximately 25–30 nm. To evaluate the photocatalytic efficiency of Ce–Ni nanocomposite, Methylene blue (MB) dye, a model organic compound, was degraded under visible light. To estimate the dye degradation efficiency of nanocomposite, UV/Vis spectroscopy was used, and the results showed 87% Photodegradation of organic pollutant in 3 h. The results illustrate usefulness of Ce nanocomposite with nickel for photocatalytical degradation of organic pollutant under exposure of visible light.