Facile synthesis of heterostructure CeO2/CdS and CdS/CeO2 nanocomposites for photocatalytic application of methylene blue textile dye.

Heterostructure CeO2/CdS and CdS/CeO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile 'one-pot' chemical method in ambient atmosphere and examined photocatalytic activity. The as-prepared nanocomposites were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-vis, PL and TG-DTA. The obtained results reveal successful formation of CeO2/CdS and CdS/CeO2 nanocomposites. The TEM images show that well-dispersed particles were uniform and fairly small, mainly spherical-like shape. Enhanced photocatalytic degradation efficiency was observed for CdS/CeO2 composite exhibits 86%. This result suggested that the CdS/CeO2 composite significantly improve the photocatalytic efficiency due to reduction the recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and creation of efficient free radicals. This work could provide a novel approach to construct new heterojunction photocatalysts and a deeper insight for the treatment of textile wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]