Effect of different CdS morphologies on photocatalytic water splitting performance of CdS@ZIF-67 composites

Abstract

ZIF-67 has been widely used in the field of photocatalytic, however, its insensitivity to visible light responsiveness has become a major difficulty in its further development. Studies have shown that the combination of cadmium sulfide (CdS) with ZIF-67 has enough potential to address this concern, but different morphologies and sizes of CdS have a great influence on the properties of composite materials. Therefore, this study focused on the physicochemical properties, photoelectric properties, and photocatalytic water-splitting properties of the CdS@ZIF-67 composites obtained by the combination of four different CdS morphologies and ZIF-67. It was found that the CdS@ZIF-67 composites had the performance of visible light region response without the use of photosensitizer, and the specific surface area of the composite was significantly improved. Among them, the nanoparticles CdS@ZIF-67 showed the most significant improvement in photocatalytic water splitting performance, and the optimal value reached 2.21 mmol•g−1•h−1. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the zero-dimensional structure of CdS is more conducive to the performance improvement of composite materials, which provides favorable evidence for the later combination of semiconductor materials and metal-organic framework materials (MOFs).