Solvothermal Synthesis of CdS Nanowires for Photocatalytic Hydrogen and Electricity Production

摘要

To investigate the formation of one-dimensional CdS nanowires,we synthesized them by a solvothermal method in ethylenediamine as a single solvent at different temperatures and times.The sample synthesized at 160 deg C for 72 h had an average diameter of ca.50 nm and a length of ca.3-4 mu m and hexagonal phase with high crystallinity.It was revealed that the formation of CdS nanowires followed three-step processes during the solvothermal synthesis;the seed formation process yielded nanosheets emanating from a mirosphere followed by the nanorod formation and growth of nanorods to nanowires.The CdS nanowires with higher crystallinity showed a higher rate of photocatalytic hydrogen production from water containing 0.1 M Na2S and 0.0 2M Na2SO3 as sacrificial reagents under visible light irradiation(lambda>=420 nm).A high and stable photocurrent generation was also observed from the CdS nanowire film under visible light.