Nitrogen and sulfur co-doped reduced graphene oxide (NS-rGO) was synthesized using a facile low temperature calcination method, which was then used as support and cocatalyst for the anchor of CdS. The obtained CdS/NS-rGO nanocomposites exhibit ultra-high photocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm). Their activity could also be adjusted by changing the doping amount of S and N, or by changing the ratios between CdS and NS-rGO. The optimum percentage of NS-rGO is 5 wt%, at which CdS/NS-rGO photocatalyst could achieve the highest H₂ evolution rate of 1701 μmol h^–1 g^–1. Moreover, the reduction from 4-NP to 4-aminophenol (4-AP) could be completed within only 6 min over this optimized composite. NS-rGO here could provide more active sites as well as tune the band gap structure to increase the photo-activity. The density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that NS-rGO has a small Gibbs free energy for H* adsorption (ΔG_H), which could increase the utilization efficency of photo-generated electrons for H₂ generation. NS-rGO is therefore an idea alternate cocatalyst of noble metals for new photocatalysts development.

氮和硫共掺杂的还原氧化石墨烯（NS-rGO）的合成采用了一种简便的低温煅烧方法，然后将其用作CdS的载体和助催化剂。所得的CdS / NS-rGO纳米复合材料在可见光（λ≥420 nm）下具有极高的光催化活性，可放出氢气和还原4-硝基苯酚（4-NP）。它们的活性也可以通过改变S和N的掺杂量或通过改变CdS和NS-rGO之间的比例来调节。NS-rGO的最佳百分比为5 wt％，此时CdS / NS-rGO光催化剂可以达到1701μmolh ^–1  g ^–1的最高H ₂析出速率。。此外，在这种优化的复合材料上，仅需6分钟即可完成从4-NP还原为4-氨基苯酚（4-AP）的过程。此处的NS-rGO可以提供更多的活性位点，并调节带隙结构以增加光活性。密度泛函理论（DFT）的计算表明，NS-rGO具有很小的吉布斯自由能用于H *吸附（ΔG _H），这可以提高光生电子对H ₂产生的利用效率。因此，NS-rGO是一种贵金属的替代助催化剂，可用于开发新的光催化剂。