Microstructural, optical and photocatalytic properties of CdS doped TiO2 thin films

CdS doped TiO2 thin films (with CdS content=0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 at%) were grown on glass substrates. The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the films are polycrystalline of monoclinic TiO2 structure. The microstructure parameters of the films such as crystallite size (Dν) and microstrain (e) are calculated. Both the crystallites size and the microstrain are decreased with increasing CdS content. The optical constants have been determined in terms of Murmann's exact equations. The refractive index and extinction coefficient are increased with increasing CdS content. The optical band gap is calculated in the strong absorption region. The possible optical transition in these films is found to be an allowed direct transition. The values of Egopt are found to decrease as the CdS content increased. The films with 3 at% CdS content have better decomposition efficiency than undoped TiO2. The films with 6 at% and 9 at% CdS content have decomposition efficiency comparable to that of undoped TiO2, although they have lower band gap. The CdS doped TiO2 could have a better impact on the decomposing of organic wastes.