Photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was studied using the photocatalyst GEL/CdS/PVANCs under solar light irradiation. The crosslinked GEL/CdS/PVANCs catalyst was prepared by using gamma irradiation as initiator. Glutaraldehyde (0.5% v/v) was incorporated after irradiation to crosslink the gelatin chains. The prepared photocatalyst was characterized by an infrared spectrophotometer (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activities of the composites were investigated by the degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) as a standard dye. The factors affecting the adsorption capacity of RhB onto GEL/CdS/PVANCs, such as catalyst concentration, RhB concentration and reaction pH on degradation were investigated. The degradation efficiency of RhB increased as pH increased upto pH 10. Then started decreasing at pH values higher than pH 10. It was verified that the RhB degradation rate fits a pseudo-first-order kinetics of the GEL/CdS/PVANCs amount. The degradation kinetics was fined to fit well Langmuir–Hinshelwood rate law.
