Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of Photocatalytic H2 activity of 0D, 1D, and 2D CdS Nanostructures

In recent years, we have witnessed a great deal of interest in semiconductor-based photocatalysts due to their potential to address major energy-related problems. Among these, Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) has turned into a well-known choice because of its exceptional photocatalytic properties and cost effectiveness. This work provides a comparison of the photocatalytic activity of CdS in 0D (microspheres), 1D (nanorods), and 2D (nanosheets) structure. Among the three, CdS nanorods exhibited high photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance of about 2.5 mmol. g-1.h-1. which is nearly 2 and 1.3 times higher compared to 0D and 2D structure respectively. Also, the obtained band edge of each nanostructures lies around 520 to 550 nm emphasize their broad visible light absorption. Furthermore, the electronic structure and band alignment studies using density functional theory (DFT) found to be well in accordance with the experimental outcomes via proving 1D CdS hexagonal is more favourable for water redox reactions compared to cubic (0D) CdS nanostructures.