Monodisperse, Mesoporous ZnxCd1-xS Nanoparticles as Stable Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysts

Monodisperse, mesoporous ZnxCd1-xS nanoparticles are successfully realized as visible-light-driven photocatalyst via a facile self-assembly route in which sodium dodecylsulfate is utilized as the surfactant. Despite the analogous size and configuration, the alloys with different Zn content exhibit corn position-dependent absorption properties in the visible zone resulting from the distinguishing band gap. Under visible light irradiation (lambda >= 400 nm), correspondingly, these photocatalysts show composition-dependent photocatalytic efficiencies for the degradation of rhodamine B. The performance increases evidently with the decrease ill the Zn content in the alloys. In addition, they are stable enough to be recycled multiple times and demonstrate higher stability than binary US sample synthesized through the same process. This finding is attractive for presenting new possibilities for chalcogenide semiconductors as single-phase, visible-light-sensitive catalysts in photocatalytic applications, especially in the field of environmental remediation.