In this work, titanium oxide particles were synthesized (TiO2) by the sol-gel technique, yielding spherical particles with an average diameter of 55 nm and surface area of 50.6 m2/g. The material's major crystallographic phase is rutile. The CeO2 particles synthesized in this work present a spherical morphology of 40 nm with a specific surface area of 43.6 m2/g and represent the cerianite crystalline phase. In addition, by means of this synthesis technique, particles composed of TiO2 and ceria CeO2 that have an average diameter were not affected by the presence of CeO2. However, the specific area (81 m2/g) significantly increased. Strangely, in the composite material, the predominant phase occurred due to the presence of CeO2, which prevents the growth of rutile crystals. The phenol degradation tests showed that at an initial concentration of 30 mg/ L, TiO2 degrades in approximately 20% of phenol after 120 minutes, but at an initial concentration of 50 mg/L, degrades at approximately 15% after 180 minutes. The other synthesized materials reach degradation of only around 3% in both phenol concentrations.

Keywords: Photodegradation, Phenol, TiO2, CeO2, Photocatalysis