Synthesis of Ag2CdS2/Carbon Nanocomposites for Effective Solar-Driven Dye Photodegradation and Electrochemical Application
Abstract
The synthesis of Ag2CdS2/Carbon (SCS/C) nanocomposites was done using starch as a carbon source material. The surface of the nanoparticles was carbonized using the carbonization technique. The band gap energy of the SCS/C nanocomposites was found to be 2.3 eV. The prepared nanocomposites were well characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The elements present in the nanocomposites were confirmed by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Under natural sunlight irradiation, the photocatalytic activities of the sample were investigated by the degradation of dye solutions such as methylene blue (MB), rhodamine B (RhB), and methyl orange (MO). Degradation of the three dyes was achieved in a short time (30 min for MO and 60 min for MB and RhB). Kinetics studies revealed pseudo first order, and the nanocomposites demonstrated good recycleability. The redox behavior of these nanocomposites showed a negative oxidation potential (Epa = 0.041-0.089 V), and the corresponding cathodic reduction peaks also appeared in the negative potential (0.58-0.94 V) with high peak-to-peak separation (DEp = 0.508-0.899 V), and SCS/C nanocomposites showed good capacitance values.