Defected graphene as effective co-catalyst of CdS for enhanced photocatalytic activities

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 27; no. 21; pp. 26810 - 26816
• Main Authors: Chen, Ying, Wang, Yue, Zhou, Xiaohan, Zhao, Yang, Peng, Wenchao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Analgesics; Aquatic Pollution; Aspirin; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Cadmium Compounds; Catalysis; Deactivation; Deionization; Drinking water; Drugs; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Fever; Graphene; Graphite; Groundwater; Inflammation; Metabolites; Mineralization; Paracetamol; Photocatalysis; Photodegradation; Porcelain; Research Article; Rivers; Spray deposition; Sulfides; Surface water; Surface-groundwater relations; Tiles; Titanium dioxide; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Defected graphene; Co-catalyst; Photocatalysis; Hydrogen evolution; Nitroaromatic reduction
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09066-8

Synthesis of highly efficient photocatalysts for energy and environment catalysis is still a big challenge in the materials field. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is a promising visible light-driven photocatalyst, which can be composited with co-catalysts to increase its photo-activity and stability. In this study, a kind of graphene material with abundant structure defects (D-rGO) is synthesized by a two-step annealing process with nitrogen-doped rGO (N-rGO) as an intermediate. The high-temperature annealing could remove the doped heteroatoms to form structure defects with five or seven carbon atoms. The D-rGO is then used as co-catalyst for the modification of CdS nanoparticles, and enhanced photocatalytic activities could be obtained. A large hydrogen evolution rate of 102.7 μmol h −1 g −1 is achieved, which is also effective for 4-nitrophenol reduction with a rate constant of 0.168 min −1 . The novel CdS/D-rGO composite contains no noble metals and could be used as multi-functional photocatalysts, thus should has great potential in the photocatalysis field.