title: Hierarchically grown CdS/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction nanocomposites with enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance.
abstract: Wide spectral responsive 3D hierarchical CdS/α-Fe2O3 heterojunction nanocomposites were synthesized through a facile chemical bath method under mild conditions, and used for the reduction of Cr(VI) into Cr(III) under visible light irradiation. The effects of CdS/α-Fe2O3 molar ratio in the nanocomposites on the crystal phases, microstructures, optical absorption properties, and photocatalytic reduction of Cr(VI) were investigated comparatively. It was found that the as-synthesized CdS/α-Fe2O3 nanocomposites with a suitable CdS content (e.g., the molar ratio of Fe : Cd = 1.25 : 3) had not only high visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity in the Cr(VI) reduction, but also good photocatalytic stability. The enhanced photocatalytic activity can be ascribed to some CdS nanoparticles closely contacting the α-Fe2O3 microflowers to form a heterojunction structure. These tight heterojunctions of the photocatalysts result in an efficient electron-hole pairs separation at the interface, followed by fast diffusion of photogenerated charge between CdS and α-Fe2O3, which is beneficial for separating the photogenerated carriers in space and improving the photocatalytic activity.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Novel Thin Film Solar Cells, Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031, Hefei, PR China.
authors.forename: Shouwei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wenqing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Meiyi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Jiaxing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jinzhang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xiangke
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang