ABSTRACT
Within moderate band gap, g-C3N4 and CdS are both promising visible light driven photocatalysts. However, their intrinsic high recombination rate of photo-induced electron-hole pairs along with the poor susceptibility in photocorrosion of CdS is main limitations hindering their practical application. In this study, the CdS/g-C3N4 composites with various weight ratios of CdS to g-C3N4 were solvothermal prepared from the dispersion of components, g-C3N4 and CdS, in ethanol. The physicochemical characterizations demonstrate the success in the fabrication of well-dispersed CdS nanoparticles in the g-C3N4 matrix. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the g-C3N4/CdS composite over the degradation of methylene blue under visible light was ascribed to the effective photo-induced electron-hole separation via the step scheme (S-scheme) pathway in which the main contribution of high oxidative hydroxyl radicals (â¢OH) was demonstrated. Furthermore, via S-scheme model, we also clarify the depletion of photo-induced holes on CdS which is ascribed as the reason for improvement in resistance to photocorrosion of composites.
ABSTRACT
Nanostructures of titanium nitride (TiN) have recently been considered as a new class of plasmonic materials that have been utilized in many solar energy applications. This work presents the synthesis of a novel nanostructure of TiN that has a nanodonut shape from natural ilmenite ore using a low-cost and bulk method. The TiN nanodonuts exhibit strong and spectrally broad localized surface plasmon resonance absorption in the visible region centered at 560 nm, which is well suited for thermoplasmonic applications as a nanoscale heat source. The heat generation is investigated by water evaporation experiments under simulated solar light, demonstrating excellent solar light harvesting performance of the nanodonut structure.
