Constructing an ohmic junction of copper@ cuprous oxide nanocomposite with plasmonic enhancement for photocatalysis

Benlin Dai; Wei Zhao; Haibao Huang; Shijie Li; Gang Yang; Hongwei Wu; Cheng Sun; Dennis Y C Leung

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.056

Constructing an ohmic junction of copper@ cuprous oxide nanocomposite with plasmonic enhancement for photocatalysis

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jun 15:616:163-176. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.056. Epub 2022 Feb 16.

Authors

Benlin Dai¹, Wei Zhao², Haibao Huang³, Shijie Li⁴, Gang Yang⁵, Hongwei Wu⁶, Cheng Sun⁷, Dennis Y C Leung⁸

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Lab for Chemistry of Low-Dimension Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Normal University, Huaian, China.
² School of Materials Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, China; Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: lmjzhaowei@foxmail.com.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, China.
⁴ Institute of Innovation & Application, Key Laboratory of Health Risk Factors for Seafood of Zhejiang Province, National Engineering Research Center for Marine Aquaculture, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁵ School of Materials Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, China.
⁶ School of Mechanics and Photoelectric Physics, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, China. Electronic address: hwwu@aust.edu.cn.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
⁸ Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: ycleung@hku.hk.

PMID: 35203030
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.056

Abstract

A novel ohmic junction Cu@Cu₂O photocatalyst with plasmonic enhancement had been successfully obtained by NaBH₄ reduction, which exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for the catalytic oxidation of nitric oxide (NO) and catalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂). The desirable photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the efficient interfacial charge separation and the high light absorption capacity induced by localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Cu nanoparticles in the Cu@Cu₂O photocatalyst. To better understand why this catalyst has satisfying stability and photocatalytic performance for the removal of NO and photocatalytic reduction of CO₂, a series of characterization methods was used to investigate the physical composition, structure, and optical properties of the sample in detail. Then, the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers of the catalyst was investigated by time-resolved photoluminescence spectra, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and photocurrent density. In addition, Finite-Different-Time-Domain (FDTD) simulation and Cambridge Serial Total Energy Package (CASTEP) were adopted to confirm the Cu-induced LSPR effect, the electric field enhancement, and the band structure of the catalyst, respectively. Moreover, the ohmic junction structure has been verified by the calculation results of work function and charge density difference. Finally, a reasonable plasmonic ohmic junction photocatalytic mechanism was proposed and verified by the simulation and experiments.

Keywords: Cu(2)O; Junction; Photocatalysis; Plasmonic enhancement.