Preparation and high visible-light-induced photocatalytic activity of CdSe and CdSe-C60 nanoparticles

Cadmium selenide-fullerene (CdSe-C60) composite was synthesized by an easy hydrothermal method derived from fullerene as a stating material. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and a UV–vis diffuse-reflectance spectrophotometer were used. The as-synthesized CdSe-C60 composite efficiently catalyzed the photodegradation of different dyes in aqueous solutions under visible-light irradiation, exhibiting high photocatalytic activity. UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy shows a band gap for CdSe of 1.68 eV. Photodegradation effect about samples was researched by degradation different dyes, different concentration of MB solutions and at different pH environment. The composites show efficient visible-light photocatalytic activity to degrade aqueous methylene blue. The degradation effect of CdSe-C60 is higher than that of pure CdSe.