Abstract
To improve the solar energy transformation efficiency, it is necessary to study the efficiency of photocatalysts under visible light irradiation. In this study, the composite photocatalyst NiS-PdS/CdS has been developed using a hydrothermal method from the raw materials cadmium sulfide, palladium chloride, nickel acetate and thiourea. The characteristics of NiS-PdS/CdS were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. In addition, the photocatalytic activities for water splitting were tested using lactic acid as the sacrificial reagent. The results showed that NiS and PdS dispersed well on the surface of CdS. The activity of NiS-PdS/CdS was much higher than that of CdS under visible light irradiation. When the loading amount of NiS and PdS reached 1.5% and 0.41% (w), respectively, NiS-PdS/ CdS showed the highest activity. The H2 evolution rate increased up to 6556 μmolh - 1 , which was six times higher than that of unloaded CdS and nearly two times higher than that of NiS/CdS. The apparent quantum yield was 47.5% (λ =420 nm). The co-catalysts NiS and PdS prompted the transfer of photogenerated electrons and holes, respectively. Compared with single-loading, co-loading the two co-catalysts could transfer and separate charge carriers more efficiently, resulting in enhancement of the activity for
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