HYDROTHERMAL SYNTHESIS AND ENHANCED VISIBLE-LIGHT PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF CdS QUANTUM DOTS SENSITIZED CARBON NANOTUBES (CNTs) NANOCOMPOSITE

A new-type photocatalyst of cadmium sulfide carbon nanotubes ( CdS /CNTs) was prepared by the hydrothermal method. This as-prepared CdS /CNTs composite photocatalyst was proved to exhibit an excellent photocatalytic activity for degradation of tetracycline (TC). Specially, the 95%- CdS –5%-CNTs composite photocatalyst played the best degradation rate (81.2%) in 60 min under the visible light irradiation. Moreover, this 95%- CdS –5%-CNTs composite photocatalyst possessed great stability and could be used at least four cycles with almost no loss of photocatalytic efficiency. Furthermore, the as-synthesized CdS /CNTs composite photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffused reflectance spectra (UV-Vis), Raman and thermal gravimetry (TG). In addition, the possible mechanism and kinetics of photodegradation of TC with CdS /CNTs photocatalyst was also discussed.