Photocatalytic activities of copper doped cadmium sulfide microspheres prepared by a facile ultrasonic spray-pyrolysis method

Ultrasonic spray pyrolysis is a superior method for preparing and synthesizing spherical particles of metal oxide or sulfide semiconductors. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) photocatalysts with different sizes and doped-CdS with different dopants and doping levels have been synthesized to study their properties of photocatalytic hydrogen production from water. The CdS photocatalysts were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray fluorescence-spectrometry (XRF), UV-Vis absorption spectra and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to study their morphological and optical properties. The sizes of the prepared CdS particles were found to be proportional to the concentration of the metal nitrates in the solution. The CdS photocatalyst with smaller size showed a better photocatalytic activity. In addition, Cu doped CdS were also deposited and their photocatalytic activities were also investigated. Decreased bandgaps of CdS synthesized with this method were found and could be due to high density surface defects originated from Cd vacancies. Incorporating the Cu elements increased the bandgap by taking the position of Cd vacancies and reducing the surface defect states. The optimal Cu-doped level was found to be 0.5 mol % toward hydrogen evolution from aqueous media in the presence of sacrificial electron donors (Na₂S and Na₂SO₃) at a pH of 13.2. This study demonstrated that ultrasonic spray pyrolysis is a feasible approach for large-scale photocatalyst synthesis and corresponding doping modification.