Three-dimensional zinc oxide decorated with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles heterogenous nanoarchitectures with expedited charge separation toward efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants

The low utilization of visible light and high recombination of electron-hole pairs still limit the practical application of photocatalysts. Here, cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanoparticles were selectively decorated on the highly active crystal planes of zinc oxide (ZnO) to prepare CdS/ZnO composite nanoarchitectures. We designed the CdS/ZnO nanoarchitectures with different morphologies by elaborately regulating the shape of ZnO (hexagram-like architectures, rod-like architectures, and flower-like architectures assembled by nanosheets), which effectively benefit the separation of its photogenerated electrons and holes. The nanoparticle/flower-like architecture sample exhibits excellent degradation performance, and the degradation rate for rhodamine B is 8.3 times higher compared to the pure ZnO. The excellent photocatalytic performance of the sample is benefited from the construction of the composite material, and the synergistic effect of nanosheets, flower-like morphology, and oxygen vacancies. This work may shed light on designing and synthesizing high-efficiency visible light photocatalysts to treat wastewater containing organic pollutants.