One dimensional hierarchical nanostructures composed of CdS nanosheets/nanoparticles and Ag nanowires with promoted photocatalytic performance

Abstract

Constructing one-dimensional (1D) hierarchical photocatalysts is deemed to be central to promoting photocatalytic capacity. In this paper, 1D hierarchical structures composed of CdS nanosheets/nanoparticles on Ag nanowires (denoted as 1D Ag@CdS core–shell hierarchical hetero-nanowires) have been fabricated via a wet-chemistry approach at low temperature. The optimization of the synthetic parameters indicates that the amounts of Cd(NO₃)₂·4H₂O and thiourea play important roles in the construction of the 1D hierarchical structures. The as-prepared 1D hierarchical Ag@CdS core–shell hetero-nanowires exhibit efficient photocatalytic performance in both methyl orange (MO) degradation (degrade 96% of MO within 240 min) and hydrogen generation (73.5 μmol h⁻¹) from water splitting due to the unique hybrid nano-architecture. It is expected that this Ag@CdS hierarchical nanostructure could have potential in solar energy conversion and this fabrication technique could be used as a reference to design other 1D metal@semiconductor core–shell heteronanowires.