Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity and Electrochemical Behaviour Towards Hg(II) of CeO2:Ag Nanocomposite.

CeO₂ and CeO₂:Ag nanocomposite were synthesized using succinic acid as a fuel by a simple solution combustion method. This method neither demands surfactants nor long reaction time. Synthesized materials were identified through several analytical tools such as photoluminescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The photocatalytic activity of prepared nanomaterials were investigated by the photodegradation of trypan blue dye by varying the initial dye concentration and catalyst dosage. The result revealed that CeO₂:Ag nanocomposite have shown the better photocatalytic activity than the CeO₂ nanoparticle at pH 5 under ultraviolet light irradiation. Furthermore, CeO₂:Ag nanocomposite is immobilized and electrically wired via immobilization upon glassy carbon electrodes to permit the creation of CeO₂:Ag nanocomposite electrochemical sensor, which has been successfully evaluated for sensing Hg(II) at nano-molar (nM) levels in model aqueous solutions across dissimilar pulse anodic striping voltammetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]