OICC Press Iranian Journal of Catalysis 2345-4865 14 4 2024 10 08 Design, synthesis, and characterization of CeO2 and SnO2 nanoparticles for enhanced UVA-light-driven photocatalysis 10.57647/j.ijc.2024.1404.41 EN Elaziouti Abdelkader Laboratoire des Mat ́eriaux Inorganiques et Application, Universit ́e des Sciences et de la Technologie d’Oran MohammedBoudiaf (USTO-MB), Oran, Alg ́erie https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0078-4816 Laouedj Nadjia Laboratoire des Mat ́eriaux Inorganiques et Application, Universit ́e des Sciences et de la Technologie d’Oran MohammedBoudiaf (USTO-MB), Oran, Alg ́erie https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0822-2797 Journal Article 2024 10 08 In this study, XRD peak profile investigation was performed on CeO2-500 and SnO2-450 materials to assess microstructural parameters. Scherrer (SM, SEAM, and SSM), Monshi-Scherrer (MSM), Williamson-Hall, Size-Strain plot (SSPM), and Halder-Wagner (HWM) models were explored. Additionally, these materials were exploited in heterogeneous photocatalysis experiments. Structural characterization revealed the formation of cubic fluorite type CeO2 phase and pure tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2. All methods provide crystallite sizes within 10-12 nm for CeO2-500 and 20-30 nm for SnO2-450.   SSPM gave the highest values of intrinsic strain and R2  (0.9975) along with satisfactory crystallite size, while the HWM model provided  the highest R2 and exhibited a  decrease in the intrinsic strain, which would suggest that lattice ε  was isotropic in the environment.   SEM analysis showed spherical NPs of CeO2-500 and consisted of a foamed body of SnO2-450. Both materials are legitimately transparent in the entire UV-Vis region with optical gap energy of 3.1 eV for CeO2-500 and 3.35 eV for SnO2-450.  Ultimately, both materials exhibited excellent performance as a result of 76.44 and 61.63 % degradation achieved under UVA-light illumination for CeO2-500 and SnO2-450, respectively. Consequently, the outstanding degradation of CR could be can be synergistically explained by the photocatalysis oxidation procedure  mechanisms through ROS (•OH, O2•− ) as the robust oxidizing agents implicated in oxidation and reduction processes with large intrinsic crystal defects (Ce4+-O  and  Sn4+-O  defects sites)  as primary driving forces ultimately facilitate charge separation of carriers,   reduce their recombination rate and thus boost their photocatalytic effectiveness. Research Highlights    Facile synthesis of CeO2 and SnO2 nanoscale particles (NPs) as a novel UVA-light photocatalysts. XRD peak profile analysis was performed to assess microstructural parameters of both photocatalysts.  Excellent performances were achieved for CeO2-500 (76.44% CR degradation ) and SnO2-450 (61.63 % CR degradation). The •OH and O2•−  radicals were the principal reactive species during Congo red azodye photoegradation