Fabrication of Ce doped CoIn2S4 microspheres as efficient photocatalyst for degradation of rhodamine B.

Photocatalysis, as one of the most advanced oxidation techniques, has been paid more and more attention due to its advantages in solving environmental pollution problems, such as low cost, eco-friendly, efficiently and no secondary pollution. In this paper, we fabricated a series of Ce doped CoIn₂S₄ photocatalyst with different Ce content via solvothermal reaction and explored the influence of Ce on the photocatalytic activity of CoIn₂S₄. The properties of all samples were characterized by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), ultraviolet spectrophotometer (UV–vis), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and so on. The results show that the doping of Ce can highly improve the photocatalytic activity of CoIn₂S₄. When CoIn₂S₄ is doped with 0.1 g of Ce(NO₃)₃·6H₂O, it exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity and can degrade 98.55% of rhodamine B (RhB). This strategy of doping rare earth element on semiconductor provides a facile and promising way to the remediation of environmental pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]