Highly enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution of Cu2O microcube by coupling with TiO2 nanoparticles

Nanotechnology. 2019 Apr 5;30(14):145401. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/aafccb. Epub 2019 Jan 9.

Abstract

A Cu2O/TiO2 p-n heterojunction composite was created via a facile, controllable, one-pot hydrothermal method based on cubic Cu2O and TiO2 nanoparticles in the presence of dioctyl sulfosuccinate sodium salt (AOT) surfactant. The TiO2 nanoparticles with an average edge length of ∼10.1 nm were uniformly distributed on the crystal surface of a Cu2O cube {100}. The photocatalytic performance of the composite was effectively tuned by controlling the amount of TiO2. The Cu2O/TiO2 (60 wt%, labeled as CT-60) exhibits the highest enhanced photocatalytic activity in hydrogen production with H2 evolution of 3002.5 μmol g-1. The yield remained around 92.6% after three cycles. Hydrogen production of the CT-60 is 103 and 8.5 fold higher than the cubic Cu2O and TiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. The improvement in photocatalytic performance could be attributed to the formation of p-n heterojunction. Furthermore, the interface effect of Cu2O and TiO2 caused a broader absorbance in the visible-light region and the lower recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. It is believed that the Cu2O/TiO2 p-n heterojunction composites could provide an alternative method to design highly efficient photocatalysts for solar energy.