Visible light-motivated photo-catalytic activity of CdS–Cu9S5 heterostructure for degradation of methylene blue

• Published in: Applied nanoscience 2022-05, Vol.12 (5), p.1683-1696
• Main Authors: Khatter, Jaya, Chauhan, R. P.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cadmium sulfide; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Chemical composition; Chemistry and Materials Science; Dyes; Field emission microscopy; Field emission spectroscopy; Heterostructures; Kinetics; Light irradiation; Materials Science; Membrane Biology; Metal sulfides; Methylene blue; Morphology; Nanochemistry; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; Original Article; Photodegradation; Photoelectrons; Photoluminescence; Pollutants; Structural analysis; Wastewater; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy
• ISSN: 2190-5509; 2190-5517
• DOI: 10.1007/s13204-022-02357-1

The release of wastewater and toxic organic pollutants originated from different industries into the water bodies is a subject of extensive concern. Heterostructured semiconductors as photo-catalysts are peculiar system that indicates outstanding adsorption towards organic pollutants for the environmental disinfection. In present work, we have synthesized CdS–Cu 9 S 5 metal sulphide heterostructure using simple and economical one pot solvothermal approach. Crystal phase, purity, chemical composition, and surface morphology of as-synthesized CdS–Cu 9 S 5 nanoparticles are examined using different analytical techniques, such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), UV–Vis (UV), and photoluminescence (PL), etc. Structural analysis indicated that as-synthesized CdS–Cu 9 S 5 nanoparticles are composed of cubic CdS and rhombohedral structured Cu 9 S 5 . FESEM analysis reveals that pure CdS has irregular shaped nanoparticles but morphology get considerably altered for CdS–Cu 9 S 5 sample. In comparison of pure CdS and Cu 9 S 5 , CdS–Cu 9 S 5 nanoparticles exhibit the higher photo-catalytic degradation rate, where approximately complete degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye is attained under visible light irradiation. This degradation reaction depicts pseudo first order kinetics, and furthermore, the effect of several parameters such as pH, catalyst amount, dye concentration and the role of active species on the degradation kinetics are also evaluated.