Synthesis of titanate nanotube-CdS nanocomposites with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

CdS-1D titanate nanotubes (CdS/TNTs) nanocomposites have been synthesized via a facile one-step in situ hydrothermal method. The structure and properties of CdS/TNTs nanocomposites have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, transmission electron microscopy, photoluminescence spectra, nitrogen adsorption-desorption, and electron spin resonance spectra. The results show that (i) as compared to blank-CdS, it is found that the morphology of CdS in the CdS/TNTs nanocomposites can be finely tuned by TNTs formed during the one-step in situ hydrothermal process; and (ii) the CdS/TNTs nanocomposites exhibit remarkably much higher visible light photocatalytic activity than both blank-CdS and blank-TNT toward aerobic selective oxidation of alcohols under mild conditions. Three integrative factors lead to such a drastic photoactivity enhancement for CdS/TNTs nanocomposites. The first one is the different morphology of CdS in the CdS/TNTs nanocomposites from blank-CdS. The second one is the prolonged lifetime of photogenerated electron-hole pairs from CdS in CdS/TNTs nanocomposites under visible light irradiation. The third one is the higher surface area and adsorption capacity of CdS/TNTs nanocomposites than blank-CdS. In addition, the possible reaction mechanism for photocatalytic selective oxidation of alcohols over CdS/TNTs nanocomposites has also been investigated using the radical scavengers technique. It is hoped that this work could promote further interest in fabrication of various 1D TNT-based composite materials and their application to visible-light-driven photocatalytic selective organic transformations.