1D CdS nanowire–2D BiVO4 nanosheet heterostructures toward photocatalytic selective fine-chemical synthesis

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) CdS nanowire (NW)–two-dimensional (2D) BiVO₄ nanosheet (NS) heterostructures (CdS–BiVO₄ 1D/2D HSs) have been fabricated toward visible-light driven selective fine-chemical synthesis in water under controlled reaction conditions. Good interfacial contact in the heterostructures is achieved through a simple and efficient electrostatic self-assembly synthetic methodology, which is afforded by the substantial attraction between two materials with opposite surface charge. These 1D/2D interfacial heterostructures are able to facilitate charge separation and transport between 1D CdS NWs and 2D BiVO₄ NSs. Characterization results indicate that the markedly enhanced photocatalytic activity of CdS–BiVO₄ 1D/2D HSs is attributed to the introduction of 2D BiVO₄ NSs, which serve as favourable receptors for efficient separation of photo-generated charge carriers excited from 1D CdS NWs. This work is expected to stimulate an increasing interest in coupling semiconductor photocatalysts with dissimilar dimensionalities for various applications in solar energy conversion.