Degradation of some dyes using nanosized CeCuO3 photocatalyst: synthesis and characterization

CeCuO3 nanoparticles with diameter 4.36 nm was synthesized by a fast and simplemicrowave method using cerric sulphate tetra hydrate and copper sulphate pentahydrate asstarting reagents. CeCuO3 was synthesized under microwave heating for 6 min without calciningsteps. The synthesized products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) andscanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the photocatalytic behaviour of nanosized CeCuO3 wasalso studied spectrophotometrically through decolorization of yellowish orange and fast greendyes, a prompt water pollutant from textile industries. The effect of variation of differentparameters i.e. pH, amount of CeCuO3, concentration of dye and light intensity was observed onthe rate of photocatalytic bleaching. A Tentative mechanism for the photocatalytic bleaching ofdyes has been proposed.