Efficient Photocatalysts Made by Uniform Decoration of Cu2O Nanoparticles on Si Nanowire Arrays with Low Visible Reflectivity

Chien-Hsin Tang; Po-Hsuan Hsiao; Chia-Yun Chen

doi:10.1186/s11671-018-2735-7

Efficient Photocatalysts Made by Uniform Decoration of Cu₂O Nanoparticles on Si Nanowire Arrays with Low Visible Reflectivity

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2018 Oct 4;13(1):312. doi: 10.1186/s11671-018-2735-7.

Authors

Chien-Hsin Tang¹, Po-Hsuan Hsiao¹, Chia-Yun Chen^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan. timcychen@mail.ncku.edu.tw.
³ Hierarchical Green-Energy Materials (Hi-GEM) Research Center, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan. timcychen@mail.ncku.edu.tw.

Abstract

Highly uniformed decorations of Cu₂O nanoparticles on the sidewalls of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) with high aspect ratio were prepared through a two-step electroless deposition at room temperature. Morphology evolutions and photocatalytic performance of SiNWs decorated with aggregated and dispersed Cu₂O nanoparticles were unveiled, and the correlated photodegradation kinetics was identified. In comparison with the conventional direct loadings where the aggregated Cu₂O/SiNW structures were created, the uniform incorporation of Cu₂O with SiNWs exhibited more than three and nine times of improved photodegradation efficiency than the aggregated-Cu₂O/SiNWs and sole SiNWs, respectively.

Keywords: Copper oxide; Electroless deposition; Photocatalysts; Silicon nanowires.

Abstract

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