One-pot synthesis of Ni doped CdS nanosheets for near infrared emission and excellent photocatalytic materials for degradation of MB dye under UV and sunlight irradiation

Undoped CdS nanostructures and Ni (3%, 5% and 7%) doped CdS nanosheets were synthesized via template-free one pot solvothermal method. The synthesized products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy (RS), UV-visible (UV-vis.) spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy techniques. The Ni doped CdS nanosheets excited by 2.75 eV revealed two weak near-infrared emission bands at 2.02 and 1.73 eV. These two bands may be due to transition from of d electronic state of Ni to hybridized (p-d) state of Ni ions and S. The photodegradation of MB dye with Ni doped nanosheets is more efficient under sunlight compared to UV light irradiation. The 3% Ni doped nanostructures act as an efficient photocatalyst. The presence of Ni2+ generate electron and holes and prolonged the recombination rate by introducing the temporary trapping sites, which essentially causes to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of the synthesized samples. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.