Visible light photocatalytic degradation of 4-chlorophenol using C/ZnO/CdS nanocomposite

C/zno/cds nanocomposite was synthesized using the microemulsion method. nanocomposite synthesized in the present work was characterized using x-ray diffractometer (xrd),scanning electron microscope (sem),energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (edx) transmission electron microscope (tem),diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (pl) spectroscopy. tem study shows that cds nanoparticles are successfully anchored on the surface of c doped zno nanorods. uv-visible spectrum of c/zno/cds nanocomposite shows a red shift. cds nanoparticles work as photo sensitizers to expand the photo-response of c doped zno to the visible region. photoluminescence (pl) spectroscopy reveals evidence for interaction between c/zno and cds. pl quenching observed for c/zno/cds nanocomposite is attributed to improved charge separation properties,which increases its photocatalytic efficiency. c/zno/cds nanocomposite exhibits exceptionally high photocatalytic activity for degradation of 4-chlorophenol (cp) via z-scheme mechanism. c/zno/cds nanocomposite is a highly stable and reusable photocatalyst. © 2015 king saud university.