Enhanced photocatalytic activity of cobalt-doped CeO₂ nanorods

In this paper, CeO₂ and cobalt-doped CeO₂ nanorods synthesized by surfactant free co-precipitation method. The microstructures of the synthesized products were characterized by XRD, FESEM and TEM. The structural properties of the grown nanorods have been investigated using electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. High resolution transmission electron microscopy studies show the polycrystalline nature of the Co-doped cerium oxide nanorods with a length of about 300 nm and a diameter of about 10 nm were produced. The X-ray Photoelectron spectrum confirms the presence of cobalt in cerium oxide nanorods. From BET, the specific surface area of the CeO₂ (Co-doped) nanostructures (131 m² g⁻¹) is found to be significantly higher than that of pure CeO₂ (52 m² g⁻¹). The Co-doped cerium nanorods exhibit an excellent photocatalytic performance in rapidly degrading azodyes acid orange 7 (AO7) in aqueous solution under UV illumination.