Photocatalytic activity enhancement of CdS through In doping by simple hydrothermal method Original Research Article

In doped CdS has been prepared by simple hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–vis spectrometer, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared samples was tested by Rhodamine B degradation under simulated solar light with the comparison of pure CdS sample. The results show that all the prepared samples have fine crystallinity, and In3+/Cd2+ molar ratio greatly affects the morphology and photocatalytic activity of the samples. In doped CdS reveals enhanced photocatalytic activity compared with pure CdS. As for the photocatalytic mechanism of Rh-B over the prepared sample, hole and electron are responsible for the photocatalytic degradation and radical dotOH does not have strong contribution. So, hole and electron may not get converted to radical dotOH for Rh-B degradation. The as-prepared nanostructure samples may have application potential for environmental purification due to their high photocatalytic activity.