Photodegradation of 4-nitrophenol using cadmium sulphide nanoparticles

An efficient method to degrade 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) using cadmium sulphide nanoparticles (CdS NPs) prepared by a novel method as a photocatalyst in the presence of H2O2 as a free radical generator was developed. To investigate the degradation mechanism, the interaction between the substrate (4-NP) and the catalyst (CdS NPs) was studied using UV-visible absorption and emission spectral techniques. Investigation on the effect of pH of the medium on the degradability of 4-NP revealed that neither the acidic (pH 4) nor alkaline (pH 9) is as suitable as pH 6 due to the desorption of 4-NP from the catalyst surface at the former condition and the existence of 4-NP in its most stable quinonoid form at the latter pH. Similarly, the effect of ratio between the photocatalyst (CdS NPs) and the substrate (4-NP) was also investigated to achieve higher efficiency in the photocatalytic reaction.