Facile fabrication of CdS/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction photocatalysts for efficient and stable photodegradation of pollution

Novel CdS/UiO-66-NH2 heterojunction photocatalysts have been successfully fabricated via facile water bath deposition. Compared with the traditional preparation technology, such strategy introduces deionized water as solvent, reduces production cost and simplifies the fabrication process of the heterojunction photocatalyst. Characterizations indicate that CdS nanoparticles (NPs) are uniformly interspersed on the surface of UiO-66-NH2 and the intimate contacted heterojunction interface is generated to prevent recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. CdS/UiO-66-NH2 with a mass ratio of 1.5:1 (CdS: UiO-66-NH2) exhibits the highest photocatalytic degradation rate for RhB of approximately 92.5% in 40 min and excellent photostability through four recycles. Furthermore, Photoluminescence (PL) spectra, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), transient photocurrent, electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS), Nyquist plots and Mott-Schottky plots are applied to characterize the photoelectrochemical properties. The observably enhanced photocatalytic performance can be attributed to: 1) larger specific surface area, increased photocatalytic active sites, intimate contacted interface, 2) created n-n type heterojunction, and 3) rapid separation and transfer of photoexcited interfacial charges.