Spray dried Cerium doped TiO2: photocatalytic activity for NOx and Ethanol abatement by visible light irradiation

Nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are serious primary air pollutants responsible for acid rains and smog, respectively. TiO2 is a well-known photocatalyst for their abatement due to its excellent photocatalytic performance in UV light range. By modifying TiO2 lattice, it has been enabled a high visible light response. In this work, cerium was employed as a dopant in different weight ratios (0-1.0 wt.% Ce-TiO2), and all the catalysts were synthesized by an aqueous-based sol-gel method followed by an unconventional drying procedure. The Ce0.8-TiO2 catalyst showed the highest degradation efficiency for both NOx (26±1.%) and ethanol degradation (23±1%) under visible light irradiation, 2.8 times and 1.5 times higher than TiO2 activity.