Preparation of Cu-doped Cd0.1Zn0.9S solid solution by hydrothermal method and its enhanced activity for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation

Abstract

a b s t r a c tA series of Cu-doped Cd 0.1 Zn 0.9 S solid solution with various amounts of Cu dopant was successfully prepared by hydrothermal method. The properties and the photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples for hydrogen production under visible light irradiation were compared to those prepared by co-precipitation method. The Cu-doped Cd 0.1 Zn 0.9 S samples prepared by hydrothermal method showed both improved crystallinity and photoabsorption ability as compared to the undoped sample. On the other hand, even though Cu-doped Cd 0.1 Zn 0.9 S prepared by co-precipitation method also showed improved photoabsorption ability in the visible light region, the samples showed poor crystallinity compared to the undoped one. With the same amount of Cu dopant, all samples prepared by hydrothermal method were found to exhibit higher photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production than the samples prepared by co-precipitation method. It was revealed that the amount of Cu dopant, crystallinity and narrow band gap energy are important factors to obtain highly active and stable photocatalysts.

Water Splitting By Photocatalytic Reduction

“…As shown in Table 6.2, the metal sulfide solid solutions doped by Cu [147,148], Ni [149,150], Ag [151], Sn [152], and Bi [153] ions have been found to exhibit higher photocatalytic activity for hydrogen production than the undoped ones. It is believed that the impurity levels in the forbidden band created by doping can enhance the visible light response and accommodate the photogenerated charge carriers, thus leading to the enhanced hydrogen evolution.…”

GSH-assisted hydrothermal synthesis of MnxCd1−xS solid solution hollow spheres and their application in photocatalytic degradation

“…Considering that the solid solutions can be obtained by combining a narrowband-gap material with a wide-band-gap material, or even two wide-band-gap materials, thus the solid solutions with a proper band structure may be formed by choosing and adjusting the right components. To present, a huge number of multi-component solid solutions formed by CdS were reported successively, such as Zn x Cd 1 À x S [14,24], Mn 1 À x Cd x S [25], (CuIn)xCd 2(1 À x) S 2 [26], Zn 1 À x Cd x In 2 S 4 [27,28], Cd x Cu y Zn 1 À x-y S [29], (Zn x Cd 1 À x )(Se x S 1 À x ) [30], Cd 0.1 Sn x Zn 0.9-2x S [31], Cu-doped Cd 0.1 Zn 0.9 S [32] and Zn x Cd 1 À x S/CNTs [33], et al Among them, the ternary Mn-Cd-S alloyed system formed by combining MnS (E g ¼3.7 eV) with CdS (E g ¼2.4 eV) has attracted considerable attention [34][35][36]. MCS solid solution, due to the tunability of its band gap by regulating the contents of Cd and Mn, is a promising candidate for visible light catalysis.…”

High activity of Ag-doped Cd0.1Zn0.9S photocatalyst prepared by the hydrothermal method for hydrogen production under visible-light irradiation

“…The modification of Cd 1− x Zn x S photocatalyst with metal ions, such as Cu [9–13], Ni [14–15], Sn [16], and Sr [17] has been a good attempt to increase the visible-light absorption of the Cd 1− x Zn x S photocatalyst. The use of Ag species as a good dopant for various types of photocatalysts has been also reported [18–20], including its use to modify Cd 1− x Zn x S [21–23].…”