The synthesis, structure, optical and photocatalytic properties of silica-coated cadmium sulfide nanocomposites of different shapes.

The CdS nanostructure undergoes photochemical dissolution, and hence, the photocatalytic activity deteriorates with light irradiation time. A thin layer of silica coating over CdS surface may prevent the photocorrosion and coalescence of quantum size CdS particles. Hence, we synthesized SiO(2)@CdS nanocomposites of different shapes and characterized them by XRD, HRTEM, EDX, SAED, BET surface area measurement and absorption and emission study. The dispersion of spherical CdS (Cd-2.62 at% and S-2.33 at%) nanoparticles of cubic crystal structure into thick amorphous SiO(2) (43.79 at%) matrix is demonstrated here. The fabrication of core (CdS)-shell (SiO(2)) structure (SiO(2)@CdS) consisting of CdS nanorod (Cd-19.79 at% and S-22.90 at%) core (length ~126 nm and width ~6 nm) having characteristic lattice fringes of hexagonal crystals and thin SiO(2) (12.81 at%) shell (thickness=1-1.4 nm) is successfully achieved for the first time. The surface area (21.2m(2)/g) of CdS nanorod (aspect ratio=21) is found to increase (42.3m(2)/g) after SiO(2) coating. The photoluminescence of CdS nanosphere (485 nm) and nanorod (501 nm) is highly quenched after SiO(2) layer formation. The superior photocatalytic activity of SiO(2)@CdS composites for the benzaldehyde oxidation under UV irradiation has been displayed.