Mesoporous cadmium bismuth niobate (CdBi_2Nb_2O_9) nanospheres for hydrogen generation under visible light

Herein, we report visible light active mesoporous cadmium bismuth niobate (CBN) nanospheres as a photocatalyst for hydrogen (H₂) generation from copious hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). CBN has been synthesized by solid state reaction (SSR) and also using combustion method (CM) at relatively lower temperatures. The as-synthesized materials were characterized using different techniques. X-ray diffraction analysis shows the formation of single phase orthorhombic CBN. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and high resolution-transmission electron microscopy showed the particle size in the range of ～0.5–1 µm for CBN obtained by SSR and 50–70 nm size nanospheres using CM, respectively. Interestingly, nanospheres of size 50–70 nm self assembled with 5–7 nm nanoparticles were observed in case of CBN prepared by CM. The optical properties were studied using UV–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and showed band gap around ～3.0 eV for SSR and 3.1 eV for CM. The slight shift in band gap of CM is due to nanocrystalline nature of material. Considering the band gap in visible region, the photocatalytic activity of CBN for hydrogen production from H₂S has been performed under visible light. CBN prepared by CM has shown utmost hydrogen evolution i.e. 6912 µmol/h/0.5 g which is much higher than CBN prepared using SSR. The enhanced photocatalytic property can be attributed to the smaller particle size, crystalline nature, high surface area and mesoporous structure of CBN prepared by combustion method. The catalyst was found to be stable, active and can be utilized for water splitting.