Novel nitrogen plasma doping on CdS/GO compounds and their photocatalytic assessment

Abstract

Nitrogen-doping of cadmium sulfide nanostructured compounds was carried out under a nitrogen plasma source to produce CdS-N compounds. Once prepared, it was supported on graphene oxide sheets for producing CdS-N/GO photocatalysts, which were tested in the degradation of lignin and methylene blue (MB) molecules. Photocatalytic reactions were carried out under UV and visible (vis) energy irradiation. To provide insight on the catalytic behavior the CdS, CdS-N, GO, and CdS-N/GO compounds were characterized using different techniques including x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy allowed determining the chemical composition in samples. It was observed an outstanding performance in photocatalytic activity tests, attributed to the extended response towards the visible light regime, and the synergistic effect between CdS-N and GO particles. The catalytic activity tests, reveal that the CdS-N/GO compound achieved over 90% lignin degradation and 100% of MB degradation. In addition, a remarkable performance is observed in the CdS-N/GO compound which exhibited stability after performing several reaction cycles.

Self-assembly induction of reduced graphene oxide decorated CdS nanoboxes for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

“…To date, to achieve noticeable photocatalytic H 2 production, a variety of strategies have been proposed to enhance the photocatalytic performance of CdS catalysts, including morphology control, [17][18][19][20] heteroatom doping, 21 heterojunction construction, [22][23][24] and cocatalyst loading. [25][26][27] As a novel and feasible concept, morphology control is a well-known solution to improve the photocatalytic performance of CdS, in terms of high separation of electron-hole pairs, rapid charge transport rates, and abundant active sites.…”