Enhanced sunlight irradiated photocatalytic activity of Sn doped CdS nanoparticles for the degradation of organic pollutants

Abstract

In the present work, pure and Sn (0.5–2.5%) doped CdS nanoparticles were synthesized by the simple sol–gel method. Structural, optical, morphological and functional group properties of synthesized CdS nanoparticles were investigated using different analytical techniques. The optical characteristics of the CdS nanoparticles indicated that as the Sn doping percentage increased, the optical bandgap energy decreased from 2.30 to 2.24 eV. Sn ions in CdS nanoparticles with altered lattice spacing and displaced 2θ angle are confirmed by XRD investigation. The HR-TEM analysis exhibits that the particles are spherical with a particle size of 28 to 24 nm for pure and Sn-doped CdS nanoparticles, respectively. In addition, the photocatalytic activity of MO and MB dyes under sunlight irradiation employing pure and Sn doped CdS nanoparticles have been investigated, and their comparative degradation behaviour has been discussed. The Sn doped CdS nanoparticles show 97% degradation activity for Methyl Orange dye for 75 min, which is higher than MB dye (95%), and these results compare to the other doped elements. The sol–gel method will be used to prepare various nanoparticles due to its simple process and low cost and the best product quality of product.