Sono-dispersion of CuS-CdS over TiO2 in one-pot hydrothermal reactor as visible-light-driven nanostructured photocatalyst

Hybrid CuS-CdS/TiO2 photocatalyst was synthesized via on-pot hydrothermal method for the sake of enhancing the charge separation and extending the absorption response of TiO2 into visible region in the photocatalytic degradation of azo dye. To explore the effectiveness of ternary CuS-CdS/TiO2 system, CuS/TiO2 and CdS/TiO2 dual nanocatalysts were synthesized. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM, BET, FTIR, PL and DRS analysis. The degradation efficiency was found to be 85.2, 100, 100 and 44.9% for TiO2, CdS(10)/TiO2, CuS(5)CdS(5)/TiO2 and CuS(10)/TiO2, respectively at reaction time of 100 min. The effect of initial pH, photocatalyst dosage and initial dye concentration on degradation efficiency and reusability of photocatalysts were evaluated. The results showed that CuS(5)CdS(5)/TiO2 owing to its good structural properties and increasing the life time of charge carriers can reach to complete decolorization in short time. Therefore, CuS(5)CdS(5)/TiO2 nanoparticles can be used as a promising photocatalyst for degradation of organic pollutants under visible light illumination. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.