Assembling CdS mesoporous nanosheets into 3D hierarchitectures for effective photocatalytic performance.

3D hierarchical CdS mesoporous nanosheets are prepared via a facile hydrothermal method in the presence of soulcarboxymthyi chitosan. By investigation of various reaction parameters, it is demonstrated that the reaction temperature and the amounts of ammonia, thiourea and Cd(NO3)2 play important roles in the formation of 3D hierarchical CdS. The optical properties of 3D hierarchical CdS are investigated using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. A photocatalytic activity experiment reveals that the as-synthesized 3D hierarchical CdS exhibits an excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of aqueous solutions of methyl orange (MO) under visible light illumination, suggesting that the 3D hierarchical CdS nanomaterial might be a promising candidate for treatment of organic pollutants in waste water.