Electrochemical performance of CdS nanomaterials synthesized by microemulsion techniques

Precursor cadmium compounds influence the electro-catalytic performance of CdS nanomaterials for sulphide/polysulphide redox couple reaction. CdS nanorods and nanoparticles were synthesized from different raw materials, namely Cd(NO3)2, CdCl2 or CdO, by a room temperature microemulsion approach using CS2 as a sulphur source. Cadmium salts (i.e. CdCl2, Cd(NO3)2) result in single phase CdS crystals with hexagonal structure while CdO gives two crystal phases with majority of cubic structure. Nanorods, produced from CdCl2, demonstrated the best catalytic performance for the enhancement of the polysulphide reaction.