Controlled synthesis in large-scale of CdS mesospheres and photocatalytic activity

In the present work, we reported the controlled synthesis of US mesospheres composed of radially arranged nanorods by hydrothermal method without any surfactant. The as-prepared CdS mesospheres were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD patterns indicated that these US mesospheres present a hexagonal structure and free of deleterious phases. SEM micrographs showed that US mesospheres are composed of several nanoparticles with growth mechanism via aggregation of particles. The photocatalytic activities were investigated by degradation of reactive brilliant dye X-3B (C.I. Reactive Red 2) under visible light irradiation. Results show that 93% X-3B was degraded after 100 min irradiation by the best one sample. The results indicate that the as-prepared US samples are promising candidate materials for visible light responsive photocatalysts. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.