Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants by simple cerium(III) salt

Abstract A simple cerium salt Ce(NO 3 ) 3 was used as the catalyst for alizarin green (AG) degradation under UV irradiation. It was found that the anthraquinone dye can be completely removed by the system. The photodegradation reaction mainly involved the participation of hydroxyl radical, which was generated by the oxidation of Ce(III) ions to Ce(IV); while the Ce(IV) ion itself could only decolorize the dye with a relatively slow rate. Several intermediate products were detected by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and a possible pathway was proposed. Many other organic dyes and phenol could also be efficiently degraded by the system.