It is well known that the bandgap E g and the absorption coefficient α are related as in the following equation: (2) H 89 where α, v, E g, and A are the absorption coefficient, light frequency, bandgap, and a constant, respectively. If the compound scatters
in a perfectly diffuse manner, K becomes equal to 2α. In this case, we can use the following expression: (3) Therefore, the bandgap energy (E g) of the resulting samples can be estimated from a plot of [F(R)hν]2 versus photon energy (hν). The [F(R)hν]2 versus hν graph of CdSe, CdSe-TiO2, TiO2, and CdSe-C60/TiO2 are presented in Figure 7. The intercept of the tangent to the x-axis would give a good approximation of the bandgap energy of the samples. The bandgap of CdSe is evaluated to be 1.81 eV, which is fairly close to the literature value BV-6 molecular weight of 1.74 eV [26, 27]. It is also found that the bandgap of CdSe-TiO2
is 1.95 eV, which is greater than the standard bandgap (1.78 eV for CdSe), showing a blueshift of 0.14 eV. The bandgap of CdSe-C60/TiO2 is about 1.77 eV, showing a blueshift of 0.05 eV. Figure 7 Variation of ( α hν) 2 versus photon energy (hν) for CdSe, CdSe-TiO 2 , TiO 2 , and CdSe-C 60 /TiO 2 . Figure 8 shows the time series of dye degradation using CdSe, CdSe-TiO2, and CdSe-C60/TiO2 under visible-light irradiation. The spectra for the dye solution after visible-light irradiation show the relative degradation yields at different irradiation times. The decrease in dye concentration continued with an oppositely gentle slope, which was due to visible-light irradiation. The concentration
of dyes was 1.0 × 10−5 mol/L, and the absorbance for dye Histone demethylase decreased with the visible-light irradiation time. Moreover, the dye solution increasingly lost its color, and the dye concentration decreased. Two steps are involved in the photocatalytic decomposition of dyes: the adsorption of dye molecules and degradation. After adsorption in the dark for 30 min, the samples reached adsorption-desorption equilibrium. In the drug discovery adsorptive step, CdSe, CdSe-TiO2, and CdSe-C60/TiO2 composites showed different adsorptive effects with CdSe-C60/TiO2 having the best adsorptive effect. The adsorptive effect of pure CdSe was the lowest. The adsorptive effect of CdSe-C60/TiO2 was better than that of CdSe-TiO2 because the added C60 can enhance the BET surface area which can increase the adsorption effect. CdSe-C60/TiO2 has the largest BET surface area, which can enhance the adsorptive effect. In the degradation step, the CdSe, CdSe-TiO2, and CdSe-C60/TiO2 composites showed a good degradation effect, as shown in the UV–vis absorption spectra. The CdSe-C60/TiO2 composites showed good adsorption and degradation effects.