Engineering Zn1-xCdxS/CdS Heterostructures with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

Kui Li; Rong Chen; Shun-Li Li; Shuai-Lei Xie; Long-Zhang Dong; Zhen-Hui Kang; Jian-Chun Bao; Ya-Qian Lan

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b02765

Engineering Zn1-xCdxS/CdS Heterostructures with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2016 Jun 15;8(23):14535-41. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b02765. Epub 2016 Jun 3.

Authors

Kui Li¹, Rong Chen¹, Shun-Li Li¹, Shuai-Lei Xie¹, Long-Zhang Dong¹, Zhen-Hui Kang², Jian-Chun Bao¹, Ya-Qian Lan¹

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Biofunctional Materials, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Nanjing Normal University , Nanjing 210023 Jiangsu P. R. China.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University , Suzhou 215123, P. R. China.

PMID: 27172231
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b02765

Abstract

Various porous Zn1-xCdxS/CdS heteorostructures were achieved via in situ synthesis method with organic amines as the templates. Because of the larger radius of Cd(2+) than that of Zn(2+), CdS quantum dots are formed and distributed uniformly in the network of Zn1-xCdxS. The Zn1-xCdxS/CdS heterostructure with small Cd content (10 at%) derived from ethylenediamine shows very high H2-evolution rate of 667.5 μmol/h per 5 mg photocatalyst under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm) with an apparent quantum efficiency of 50.1% per 5 mg at 420 nm. Moreover, this Zn1-xCdxS/CdS heterostructure photocatalyst also shows an excellent photocatalytic stability over 100 h.

Keywords: CdS quantum dots; Zn1−xCdxS/CdS; heterostructure; in situ synthesis; photocatalytic activity.