A comparative study on visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of CdO nanowires and g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure

In this study, we synthesized the visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity of CdO nanowires and g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure by the hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectrometry, and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy studies were carried out to compare the structural, morphological, and optical properties of CdO nanowires and g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure. Also, we investigated how CdO nanowires and g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure function as photocatalysts in the photocatalytic oxidation of RhB under visible light illumination, which revealed that g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure exhibits better photocatalytic oxidation on RhB than CdO nanowires with the first-order degradation kinetics. The prepared g-C3N4/CdO hybrid nanostructure can provide hybridized conduction band or valence band, which facilitates better charge transport and reduces recombination electron-hole charge carriers leading to higher photocatalytic performance. Hence, making hybrid nanostructures such as g-C3N4/CdO can be a potential approach to develop effective photocatalysts for treating effluents discharged from textile and dyeing industries.