Visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes over cubic-phase and hexagonal-phase CdS: a comparative study

Abstract

Organic effluents—the gift of industrial development is a critical menace to environs as well as raising a question mark toward the sustainability of humans. In such a scenario, achieving consistent sunlight-driven photocatalytic degradation gains widespread attention due to its eco-friendly low-cost approach with high efficiency. Herein, the CdS-cubic nanoparticles have been synthesized using a simple chemical precipitation technique and structural transition to CdS hexagonal is obtained through annealing. Morphology study has validated the reduction in particle size of CdS cubic and corresponding enhancement in the surface are put forth by BET analysis. The better degradation capability of CdS cubic is demonstrated through the visible-light-driven photocatalysis of MB dye with a degradation rate constant of k = 0.02/min. Meanwhile, CdS hexagonal possesses a rate constant k = 0.005/min. The scavenger study reveals the vital role of conduction band electron and superoxide radical in decolorization. Moreover, lesser carrier recombination with more charge transfer is observed from PL and EIS, respectively, emphasizing the CdS-cubic nanoparticle's catalytic activity. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.