CdS-modified ZIF-8-derived porous carbon for organic pollutant degradations under visible-light irradiation

A series of CdS-modified zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8)-derived porous carbons (marked as CZCs) were fabricated via a facile method in the study. And, the preparation samples were further analyzed by employing some characterization technologies. Also, the introducing amounts of porous carbons were systematically investigated. The results indicated that the composite CZC600-30 presented an optimum photocatalytic activity for organic pollutant methylene blue (MB, 150 mL, 10 mg/L) or tetracycline (TC, 100 mL, 30 mg/L) degradations under visible-light irradiation and the pollutants were all able to be completely removed within 60 min. The adding amount of CZC used to degrade MB and TC was 30 and 5 mg, respectively. The occurrences of good performances were originated from the formation of type (II) heterojunction, which can efficiently separate photoinduced carriers. In addition, the introduction of the CZC increases surface area (53.3 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.171 cm3 g−1) compared to those (27.2 m2 g−1 and 0.062 cm3 g−1) of CdS. Radical trapping measurements illustrated that radical O2− was a main active species during the photodegradation process. Analyzing results demonstrated that the material is a promising catalyst for the removals of organic pollutants.