An Overview on the Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants in the Presence of Cerium Oxide (CeO2) Based Nanoparticles: A Review

Abstract

Considerable efforts have been devoted to enhancing the photocatalytic activity and solar energy utilization of photocatalysts. Photocatalysis has attracted much attention in recent years due to its potential in solving energy and environmental issues. The fabrication of various materials (coupled or doped) to form heterojunctions provides an effective way to better harvest solar energy and to facilitate charge separation and transfer, thus enhancing the photocatalytic activity and stability. Efficient light absorption and charge separation are two of the key factors for the exploration of high performance photocatalytic systems, which is generally difficult to be obtained in a single photocatalyst. In this review, we briefly summarizes the recent development heterostructured semiconductors, including the preparation and performances of semiconductor/semiconductor junctions, semiconductor/metal junctions, and their mechanism in the area of environmental remediation and water splitting for enhanced light harvesting and charge separation/transfer, describe some of the progress and resulting achievements, and discuss the future prospects. The scope of this review covers a variety of type photocatalysts, focusing particularly on Ceria (CeO2) heterostructured photocatalysts. We expect this review to provide a guideline for readers to gain a clear picture of fabrication and application of different type heterostructured photocatalysts.