LAUSR

Abstract Various molar ratio CdS nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully decorated on the surfaces of anatase-TiO2(B) nanobelts (NBs) synthesized by hydrothermal method. When the molar ratio of CdS to anatase-TiO2(B) is 10:100 (TC-10), CdS NPs with smaller size were uniformly decorated on the anatase-TiO2(B) NBs. The XRD results indicated that the products were composed of anatase, TiO2(B) and hexagonal CdS. Photoluminescence emission, UV–Vis absorption spectra, photocurrent spectra and electrochemical impedance spectra of the as-prepared samples demonstrated that the CdS NPs contributed to the enhancement of properties of composites. And the TC-10 exhibited the best photoelectrochemical properties. The rhodamine B (RhB) photocatalytic degradation experiments under 300 W Xenon lamp irradiation showed that CdS favors the improvement of degradation ratios. The TC-10 has the highest degradation ratio of RhB (91.9%, 30min), which should be attributed to the formation of homojunction, heterojunction and the uniform distribution of CdS nanoparticles with small sizes.