Effects of Heat Treatment on Crystallinity, Hydrophilicity, and Photocatalytic Activity of Cd0.2Zn0.8S Solid Solution

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Cd0.2Zn0.8S solid solutions (CZS-SS) were synthesized through a facile co-precipitation method. The consequence of the heating parameters on the crystallinity, morphology, hydrophilicity, defects and particle size were investigated systematically. The results show that the increase of drying temperature decreases the efficiency of the photocatalytic performance of CZS-SS due to lower crystallinity and hydrophilicity. In contrast, the rate of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution of the CZS-SS after hydrothermal treatment is significantly higher than that of those after air or He flow drying. Under visible light irradiation, the photocatalytic hydrogen production rate of CZS-SS treated by hydrothermal method at 200°C was the highest (2680 μmol h–1 g–1), being 10 times that of the dried ones at 200°C. The improved performance of CZS-SS by hydrothermal treatment can be attributed to the higher crystallinity and the formation of more surface hydroxyl groups, which can improve light absorption and suppress the electron-hole pair recombination generated by photons.