Green emitter copper clusters as highly efficient and reusable visible degradation photocatalysts

Noelia Vilar-Vidal; José Rivas Rey; M Arturo López Quintela

doi:10.1002/smll.201400679

Green emitter copper clusters as highly efficient and reusable visible degradation photocatalysts

Small. 2014 Sep 24;10(18):3632-6. doi: 10.1002/smll.201400679. Epub 2014 May 30.

Authors

Noelia Vilar-Vidal¹, José Rivas Rey, M Arturo López Quintela

Affiliation

¹ Nanomag Laboratory, Research Technological Institute, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Spain; INL-International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, Braga, 4715-310, Portugal.

PMID: 24889197
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201400679

Abstract

Green emitter copper clusters (CuCLs) with a size of ≈1.5 nm can be used as very efficient and recyclable photocatalysts for the degradation of methylene blue, both in solution and supported onto glass surface showing a photocatalytic efficiency larger than that found with common semiconductors. These results open a new important potential way to overcome major difficulties found in the photocatalysis field with the common semiconductors.

Keywords: clusters; copper; photocatalysis; photodegradation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't