Preparation of popcorn-shaped CdS nanoparticles by hydrothermal method and their potent photocatalytic degradation efficiency

Abstract

In this study, popcorn-shaped with unsmooth surface cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were prepared successfully by a facile and convenient one-pot strategy, using PVP-K30 as surfactant. Structure and component of CdS samples were characterized by XRD and EDX respectively, morphology was studied by SEM and FESEM. The synthetic mechanism of the unsmooth CdS nanospheres was assumed through the above characterization also. From the results, the popcorn-shaped CdS nanoparticles could photocatalytically degrade methyl orange efficiently under visible light irradiation, which is much better than CdS nanoparticles prepared without PVP. These results suggest that the as-prepared CdS nanoparticles might be used as a potential photocatalyst to treat the organic pollutants efficiently under visible light irradiation.