Influence of Triethanolamine on Physico-Chemical Properties of Cadmium Sulphide

摘要

The nanocrystalline cadmium sulphides were synthesized using solvothermal technique with and without triethanolamine as a capping agent. The synthesized CdS nanomaterials were characterized by different characterization techniques such as, photoluminescence, diffuse reflectance UV-Visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Field emission scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy. XRD revealed the formation of crystalline hexagonal wurtzite CdS nanocrystals. FESEM analysis showed the use of triethanolamine produce spherical CdS clusters having size in the range of 30-35 nm whereas, without use of triethanolamine leads to the formation of spherical CdS clusters having size in the range of 30 to 300 nm. Blue shift in the UV-Visible absorbance spectra of the prepared CdS confirmed the formation of nanosized CdS. Band gap calculated from diffuse reflectance UV-Visible spectra is around 2.36 eV. TEM showed the formation of spherical CdS clusters made up of small particles in the range of 5-10 nm. Photocatalytic activity of the prepared CdS was measured for methylene blue degradation. The photocatalytic activity of CdS prepared using triethanolamine showed higher activity (k_(app) = 0.0245 min~(-1)) than that of the CdS prepared without triethanolamine (k_(app) = 0.0132 min~(-1)).