Microstructure, zeta potential and enhanced photocatalytic dye degradation performances of mesoporous flower like Nb2O5@CeO2 bimetallic oxide nanomaterials decorated with reduced graphene oxide

The unique features of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) enable their applications in the field of photocatalysis as well as their enhanced electrical properties. In the present research work, a novel series of Nb2O5 embedded CeO2 incorporated with various weight percentage of rGO (2, 8 and 12 wt%) were synthesized by hydrothermal method. The structural and morphological features of nanomaterials (NMs) were investigated by using different analytical techniques namely, XRD (X-ray diffraction), UV–visible, SEM (scanning electron microscopy), EDX (energy dispersive X-ray), XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy), BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller). The XRD studies revealed a mixed phase of tetragonal/orthorhombic crystal structure and microstructure analysis showed small flower shaped morphology. The rGO doping results in the increased specific surface area and pore diameter of the NMs. Redshift in optical absorbance was observed with a decrease in direct optical band gap as rGO concentration increases on Nb2O5@CeO2 NMs. The Zeta potential studies showed a decrease in conductivity of the nanoparticles (NPs) with constant poly disparity. The Zeta potential varies between 149.93 mV to − 54.19 mV as the rGO concentration increases on bimetallic oxide NMs. Further, Photocatalytic dye degradation studies of rGO12 wt.%: Nb2O3@CeO2 against Methylene blue (MB), Rodhamaine B (RB) dyes showed increased photocatalytic activity. The degradation efficiency was found to be 91.36 % and 88.75 % in 110 min of irradiation for MB and RB dyes respectively. Further, the effect of pH showed the basic medium necessary for degradation with the effective dosage of the catalysts was 0.002–0.006 g/L. The Photocatalytic performances increase with the increase in rGO concentration on Nb2O5@CeO2 NMs. The present work projects the NMs can be better candidates to improve photocatalytic performances and an excellent material having charge transport capability.