In situ synthesis of CdS@NH2-MIL-125 nanocomposite for the enhanced photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene

Abstract

In this work, CdS@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocomposite as a photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by forming a common boundary between CdS and NH₂-MIL-125 via an in situ solvothermal strategy, and then the physicochemical properties of this photocatalyst were evaluated by XRD, N₂ adsorption–desorption, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XPS, and UV–vis DRS techniques. The comparison between the CdS@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocomposite and pure CdS and NH₂-MIL-125 in the oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) was investigated. The incorporation of CdS with NH₂-MIL-125 showed that this was a feasible strategy for enhancing photocatalytic activity because of increasing the surface area and operative interfacial charge transfer between the NH₂-MIL-125 and CdS. Moreover, the highest desulfurization removal (60%) was achieved using 500 ppm of sulfur-containing compounds and 0.1 g CdS@NH₂-MIL-125 nanocomposite after 24 h under visible irradiation, indicating the high stability of the catalyst.