UV-light-driven photocatalytic degradation and antimicrobial properties of efficient ternary semiconductor Cd_xAg_1–xS nanocomposites

The objective of this research was to prepare and characterize the solvent-free ternary semiconductor Cd_xAg_1–xS nanocomposites as photocatalysts by a simple hydrothermal method using without any surfactant. We have accessed the photocatalytic ability of the prepared composites in the degradation of pesticides under simulated UV light irradiation. The Cd_0.5Ag_0.5S composites show a significant photocatalytic activity, higher than the bare CdS and Ag₂S samples. It indicates that the heterostructured combination of Ag and CdS provides synergistic photocatalytic activity through an efficient electron transfer process. The stability and reusability assays indicated that the Cd_0.5Ag_0.5S composite retained more than 90% of activity after five cycles of use. On the basis of the results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism of the prepared samples was proposed. The synthesized CdS, Ag₂S, and Cd_0.5Ag_0.5S samples were screened against selected bacterial and fungal species. The investigated results confirm the synthesized Cd_0.5Ag_0.5S is a potential candidate for antimicrobial activity applications.