A Novel Method for the Preparation of a Highly Stable and Active CdS Photocatalyst with a Special Surface Nanostructure

Abstract

A novel method for the preparation of a CdS photocatalyst is presented. In this method, freshly prepared CdO obtained by decomposing cadmium acetate at a certain temperature was subjected to thermal treatment in the presence of H2S, which results in the formation of a highly stable and active CdS photocatalyst. In comparison to conventional preparation methods, CdS prepared by our method was found to be stable against both air oxidation and photocorrosion during a photocatalytic reaction. Most importantly, the special nanostep structure was observed at the surface of the sulfide photocatalyst, which was demonstrated to be crucial for the remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic hydrogen production. The apparent quantum yield at 420 nm and the energy conversion efficiency in the whole visible light region were determined to be 24.1% and 6.35%, respectively, in our experimental conditions.

g-C3N4-Based Nanomaterials for Visible Light-Driven Photocatalysis

“…In both cases, recent research has focused on identifying and developing alternative semiconductors to titania, offering superior performance under solar (rather than UV irradiation) [25]. Numerous semiconductors, including ZnO [27], Fe2O3 [28], WO3 [29], SrTiO3 [30], NaTaO3 [31], CdS [32], Ag3PO4 [29], BiPO4 [33], and g-C3N4 [34] are known photocatalysts, with their application dependent on their band gap (Figure 3). Despite a large body of literature, the practical utilization of such photocatalysts for solar fuels production or the degradation of organic pollutants remains a huge challenge due to poor visible light harvesting or efficient conversion of light energy to achieve chemical transformations [13,16,35].…”

Effects of the preparation method of the ternary CdS/TiO2/Pt hybrid photocatalysts on visible light-induced hydrogen production

“…As a mean to achieve this goal, semiconductor photocatalysts have been extensively studied. In particular, a variety of visible light-active photocatalyts [2][3][4][5][6] including CdS [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] have been studied. In terms of the band gap magnitude and the position of band edges, CdS is ideally suited for photocatalytic water splitting but it is not effective at all unless suitable electron donors (EDs) are present.…”

Facile Synthesis and Characterization of Novel CdS/BiOI Heterojunctions with Enhanced Visible-Light Photocatalytic Performances

“…CdS is a photocatalytic material with a high visible-light activity, due to its narrow band gap (2.42 eV) [26]. It has been widely used as a sensitizer to improve the visible-light response of wide band gap semiconductors [27]. Using CdS nanoparticles to decorate semiconductor materials can effectively separate the photogenerated electrons and holes, then result in an improvement of the photocatalytic efficiency [28].…”