Abstract
In this paper, a visible light-driven nanophotocatalyst of MoS2 with different amounts of CeO2 (0%, 8%, 16%, 24%, and 32% wt.) was impregnated on SiO2-Al2O3. The physicochemical properties of synthesized photocatalysts were investigated by XRD, FESEM, TEM, UV-Vis DRS, PL, BET-BJH, ICP-OES, EDX, and FTIR analyses. While the size of particles in all samples was in the nanoscale range, the sample with 8% wt. of CeO2 indicated the narrowest particle size distribution. UV-Vis DRS and PL analyses confirmed that adding CeO2 to the MoS2/SiO2-Al2O3 photocatalyst increased the amount of light absorption and decreased the recombination rate of charge carriers. Among CeO2-containing samples, the sample with 8% wt. of CeO2 illustrated the lowest recombination rate and the narrowest bandgap energy of 2.9 eV. The MoS2-CeO2/SiO2-Al2O3 photocatalyst with 8% wt. of CeO2 had the highest adsorption of DBT in dark conditions (29.93%), the highest photodegradation (96.9%) after 3 h of visible light irradiation and good stability after five consecutive runs. Meanwhile, total sulfur measurement indicated that using this sample and the extraction afterward, the model fuel has lost 96% of its sulfur content which confirms the excellent ability of acetonitrile-assisted extraction in gathering desulfurization products from the fuel.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge Sahand University of Technology for complementary financial support.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).