synthesis and characterization of novel mg(oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures for sunlight-induced degradation of phenolic pollutant

Mg(oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures have been successfully synthesized by a novel precipitation method and the synthesis involves three steps. the first step involves the synthesis of mg(oh)_2 nanoparticles using the homogeneous precipitation method. then, surface-modifying agent citric acid was used to functionalize mg (oh)_2. finally, the cadmium sulfide (cds) shell was deposited on the surface-modified mg (oh)_2 by the co-precipitation method. the mg (oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures were characterized using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (sem), transmission electron microscopy (tem), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (drs), and photoluminescence spectroscopy. drs results indicated a blue shift of cds bandgap absorption with respect to the bulk cds. xps results showed evidence for the binding energies of mg(oh)_2, cd, and s. the mg (oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures were explored as a catalyst for sunlight-induced photocatalytic degradation of β- naphthol pollutant. the 0.2 mg/ ml batch of mg (oh)_2/ cds hetero nanostructures maintained at ph 8.5 showed maximum photodegradation efficiency (75 ± 2.1 %). higher photocatalytic degradation efficiency for mg(oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures could be due to the incorporation of cds and increased reactive oxygen species (ros) generation. the reusability of the mg (oh)_2/cds hetero nanostructures was also tested, indicating stability for up to three cycles without any loss of efficiency.