Iron‐Doped Cadmium Sulfide/Graphene Oxide (Cd(1‐x)Fe(x)S/GO) Nanocomposites for Photocatalytic Degradation of Toxic Pollutants

ABSTRACT Heterogeneous photocatalysis has been widely explored as a promising solution for dye degradation due to its cost‐effectiveness, ease of recovery, and use of green technology. Precisely, iron‐doped cadmium sulfide (CdS) exhibits greater efficiency because of its higher charge separation, more electron transfer efficiency, and adsorption under visible region. In this study, two different ratios of iron‐doped cadmium sulfide (Cd(1‐x)Fe(x)S/GO) nanocomposites such as Cd0.95Fe0.05S/GO and Cd0.90Fe0.10S/GO were synthesized using the coprecipitation method and characterized with UV‐Vis DRS, XRD, FT‐IR, Raman, XPS, and HR‐TEM. The nanocomposites have been employed to degrade the methyl orange under visible region and optimize the dopant ratio, amount of catalyst, and pH. From the results, it is observed that the composition with a high percentage of iron‐doped CdS such as Cd0.90Fe0.10S/GO displayed better photocatalytic properties and improved the optimum ratio (0.9:0.1 for Cd:Fe). This may be attributed to the highest charge separation, increased number of defective sites, and enhanced visible‐range adsorption owing to Fe doping. In addition to that, doping results reduce the band gap and size of the nanoparticles. It also increases recycling efficiency, reaching 93% after 10 cycles. Novel Cd(1‐x)Fe(x)S/GO nanocomposites were synthesized using the coprecipitation method. Cd0.90Fe0.10S/GO shows excellent photocatalytic properties when compared with Cd0.95Fe0.05S/GO nanocomposite. Iron doping greatly improved the process of charge separation, created more defective sites, reduced CdS band gap and size of the nanoparticles, and thus led to a higher absorbance in visible light. GO's high surface‐to‐volume ratio enables the even distribution of nanoparticles across the surface, and thus, excellent photocatalytic activity is made possible.