Synthesis of cadmium sulfide nanosheets for smart photocatalytic and sensing applications

Herein, we report the synthesis, characterizations, photocatalytic and sensing applications of ultra-wide cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanosheets. The CdS nanosheets were prepared by a simple solution process at low-temperature using cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a stabilizing agent. The synthesized CdS nanosheets were characterized by several techniques which confirmed large-scale growth, well-crystallinity and hexagonal crystal phase of the prepared nanosheets. The synthesized nanosheets were used as effective photocatalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of harmful toxic dye, i.e. methyl orange. The photocatalytic activities were evaluated by measuring the photodegradation rate of MO in presence of CdS nanosheets under UV light irradiation. Interestingly, over 90% degradation of MO dye was achieved in 75 min using 0.15 g of photocatalyst, i.e. CdS nanosheets. Further, the synthesized nanosheets were used as efficient scaffold to fabricate highly sensitive, selective and reproducible fluorescent sensor for the detection of Picric Acid (PA). The observed detection of limit for the fabricated sensor was ~2.46 μM. Moreover, the interfering studies confirmed that the developed sensor possesses very good selectivity towards PA as it detect selectively even in the presence of several other coexisting aromatic compounds such as phenol, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid and aniline.