Article pubs.acs.org/Langmuir
Controllable Synthesis of ZnxCd1−xS@ZnO Core−Shell Nanorods with Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Shilei Xie,† Xihong Lu,† Teng Zhai,† Jiayong Gan,† Wei Li,† Ming Xu,† Minghao Yu,† Yuan-Ming Zhang,*,‡ and Yexiang Tong*,† †
Key Laboratory of Environment and Energy Chemistry of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, MOE Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Optoelectronic and Functional Composite Materials, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China ‡ Department of Chemistry, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, P. R. China S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: We report the synthesis of ZnxCd1−xS@ZnO nanorod arrays via a facile two-step process and the implementation of these core−shell nanorods as an environmental friendly and recyclable photocatalyst for methyl orange degradation. The band gap of ZnxCd1−xS@ZnO core−shell nanorods can be readily tunable by adjusting the ratio of Zn/Cd during the synthesis. These ZnxCd1−xS@ZnO core−shell nanorods exhibit a high photocatalytic activity and good stability in the degradation of the methyl orange. Moreover, these films grown on FTO substrates make the collection and recycle of the photocatalyst easier. These findings may open new opportunities for the design of effective, stable, and easyrecyclable photocatalytic materials.
1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays, the environmental pollution associated with the textile industries has become more and more serious. In order to address these problems, considerable efforts have been devoted to developing various techniques to eliminate these pollutants such as waste dye. The photocatalytic degradation technique has been recognized as a promising method to eliminate textile dye due to its simplicity, economy, versatility for a broad range of pollutants, and mild operation conditions without any chemical additives.1−3 TiO2 is the most used semiconductor oxide in photocatalytic degradation of dye, and great achievements have been made.4,5 ZnO is being thought as a promising alternative to TiO2 because of their similar band gaps (3.37 eV) and band edge positions.6 Moreover, ZnO exhibits a higher electron mobility and longer photoexcited electron lifetime than TiO2,7 which is beneficial for photocatalytic degradation of dye. Another important advantage of ZnO over TiO2 is that it can be synthesized by a wide range of synthesis techniques.8−10 However, the major drawback for both ZnO and TiO2 is the large band gap, which makes them only effective in ultraviolet light. Considering the small portion of UV light in solar spectrum (
