Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity of ZnO, ZnS, ZnO/ZnS, CdO, CdS and CdO/CdS Nanoparticles in Mesoporous SBA-15

Grinding (solvent-free) method was used as a superior technique to prepare mesoporous photocatalysts of zno, zns, zno / zns, cdo, cds and cdo / cds-sba-15. in this technique, the nitrate, acetate and chloride salts of zinc and/or cadmium were grinded with as-synthesized sba-15 as a mesoporous material. the controllable sulfurationis was used to prepare zns, zno/zns, cds and cdo/cds-sba-15 at temperature of 80 °c. the advantages of grinding technique were: i) the elimination of solvent and thus decrease of expense and ii) the complete incorporation of metal salts in the nanochannel of mesoporous material in a short time. x-ray powder diffraction, n2 adsorption-desorption and ft-ir spectroscopy were used to characterize the prepared materials. the highly dispersed semiconductors in sba-15 demonstrate an active photodegradation of congo red in aqueous solution. the nanocomposites of zno/zns and cdo/cds in channels of sba-15 showed the highest photocatalytic activity. the photocatalytic activity of zno-, zns- and zno/zns-sba-15 were also dependent on the salt precursor of zinc. the prepared composite photocatalysts of zinc/sba-15, by using zncl2 as salt precursor, indicated the higher activity.