Surface analysis of Rh/CdS

摘要

Photodeposition of noble metals on CdS makes it a better photocatalyst and a more stable photoanode for photoelectrochemical (PEC) cells [1-6]. As both photocatalytic activity as well as the photoelectro-chemical characteristics of metallized CdS are greatly influenced by its surface and interface properties, surface characterization of metallized CdS is inevitable. Even though, metallized semicon-ductors are widely used, there are only a few reports on the detailed surface analysis of metallized CdS. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is most extensively used for the surface characterization of metallized semiconductors. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) serves as a versatile tool to analyse the surface morphology and the nature of the metal layer on metallized semiconductors. In addition to these conventional surface analysis tech-niques, we have effectively used photoelectrochem-ical methods and photocatalytic studies for the characterization of the surface of Rh/CdS and the interface between Rh and CdS. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectral (DRS) studies on Rh/CdS have been carried out in order to see the effect of deposition of Rh on the light absorption character-istics of CdS.