ELECTRONIC-SPECTRA AND PHOTOCATALYTIC ACTIVITIES OF SEMICONDUCTOR NANOPARTICLES INCORPORATED IN SILICA MATRIX

Optical and photocatalytic properties of cadmium sulfide and zinc sulf ide nanoparticles incorporated in silica by the sol-gel method were in vestigated and their electrophysical characteristics (band gap and con ductivity band position) were calculated. The photocatalytic activity of nanostructural composites was found to depend on semiconductor conc entration. This can be explained as a result of size quantization effe cts and alteration of optical transmission of visible light through Zn S to the interface between ZnS and CdS and suppression of CdS interact ion with the electron donor. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.