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Photocatalytic performance of CdS nanomaterials for photodegradation of organic azo dyes under artificial visible light and natural solar light irradiation

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Abstract

The CdS semiconductors have been prepared at low temperature via catalyst-free chemical precipitation method without using any surfactant or capping agent. Either water or ethylene glycol, as a solvent, provides spherical CdS nanostructures with a comparable size of 117–121 nm. The molar ratio of Cd/S plays an important role in determining phase structure, morphology and photocatalytic performance of the prepared CdS nanostructures. Increasing molar ratio of S2− results in not only mixed cubic-hexagonal phases but also low photocatalytic performance. CdS nanoparticles with good dispersibility prepared at Cd/S molar ratio of 1:1 shows high photocatytic efficiency of 95% toward photodegradation of reactive red azo dye (RR141) under visible light irradiation up to 240 min. The degradation efficiency of CdS nanoparticles also reaches 48% under natural solar light irradiation for 80 min. This work demonstrates the promising potential of CdS nanomaterials as photocatalysts for environmental remediation.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Materials Chemistry Research Center, Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry (PERCH-CIC), Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University for providing partial financial support and research facilities. Teeradech Senasu wishes to thank partial fund from Materials Chemistry Research Center. Suwat Nanan also would like to acknowledge Khon Kaen University for financial support under Incubation Researcher Project. This work was also partially supported by the Integrated Nanotechnology Research Center (INRC), Khon Kaen University.

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  1. Materials Chemistry Research Center, Department of Chemistry and Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand

    Teeradech Senasu & Suwat Nanan

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  1. Teeradech Senasu
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  2. Suwat Nanan
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Correspondence to Suwat Nanan.

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Senasu, T., Nanan, S. Photocatalytic performance of CdS nanomaterials for photodegradation of organic azo dyes under artificial visible light and natural solar light irradiation. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28, 17421–17441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-017-7676-x

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