Construction of Z–scheme 1D CdS nanorods/2D ultrathin CeO2 nanosheets toward enhanced photodegradation and hydrogen evolution

The synthesis of semiconductor-based photocatalytic materials has been developed rapidly because of the wide application potential in solving environmental pollution and energy crises. In this study, a noval Z–scheme heterojunction by in situ assembly of two-dimensional (2D) ceria nanosheets and one-dimensional (1D) cadmium sulfide nanorods (CdS/CeO2) was constructed and employed for effective photocatalytic degradation of contaminant and hydrogen production under irradiation. The morphologies and physicochemical properties of as-synthesized nanostructures were analyzed by a series of characterizations. The optimized CdS/CeO2 showed more superior degradation efficiency of tetracycline than the most CdS-based materials as reported, and exhibited about 1.8 folds higher hydrogen evolution efficiency than pristine CdS. A direct Z–scheme charge transfer mechanism was proposed by combining radicals trapping experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra, which accelerated the efficient transport of photo-induced charge carriers. The present work demonstrates that CdS/CeO2 nanomaterial with high photocatalytic performance has a promising application in the environmental treatment and green energy production.