A facile room temperature method to recycle Cd from CdS
Huazhang Feng,
Tingting Xu,
Yuanmin Zhu,
Yanping Chen,
Jingyun Su,
Enna Ha,
Ran Jia,
Kan Zhang,
Lei Ma,
Luyang Wang
Affiliations
Huazhang Feng
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China
Tingting Xu
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China
Yuanmin Zhu
School of Material Science and Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523106, China; Corresponding author.
Yanping Chen
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China
Jingyun Su
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China
Enna Ha
College of Health Science and Environmental Engineering, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen 518118, China
Ran Jia
Institute of Theoretical Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130023, China; Corresponding author.
Kan Zhang
MIIT Key Laboratory of Advanced Display Material and Devices, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
Lei Ma
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China; Corresponding author.
Luyang Wang
College of New Materials and New Energies, Shenzhen Technology University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518118, PR China; Corresponding author.
Cadmium-based semiconductors have a wide range of applications in light-emitting, energy conversion, photodetection and artificial photosynthesis. With the concern about the potential toxicity of Cd, it is necessary to recycle the element from the Cd based semiconductors. Commonly, the precipitation of Cd cations with S2− is deemed as the end point of recycling. However, actually, CdS is easy to be oxidized and released into the environment and accumulate in the food chain. It still remains challenges on how to refine the Cd element and convert it to the raw material. Herein, we demonstrate a facile room temperature method for recycling Cd from CdS. Cd can be produced from CdS within 3 h with the help of the lithium-ethylenediamine solution. DFT calculations further confirm that the high surface energy of (100) and (101) planes are selectively attacked by the solvated electrons in the solution, which is in good accordance with the XRD, STEM-HAADF and XPS characterizations. With a total recovery efficiency of 88%, Cd is successfully recovered from the CdS powder. This method provides a new perspective on the treatment of Cd-based semiconductor waste, which is of great significance for the recycling of cadmium metal.
