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. 2019 Jul 13;9(7):1011.
doi: 10.3390/nano9071011.

Visible Light Driven Heterojunction Photocatalyst of CuO-Cu2O Thin Films for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

Negar Dasineh Khiavi  1 , Reza Katal  2 , Saeideh Kholghi Eshkalak  3 , Saeid Masudy-Panah  4 , Seeram Ramakrishna  5 , Hu Jiangyong  6
Affiliations

Visible Light Driven Heterojunction Photocatalyst of CuO-Cu2O Thin Films for Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Pollutants

Negar Dasineh Khiavi et al. Nanomaterials (Basel). .

Abstract

A high recombination rate and low charge collection are the main limiting factors of copper oxides (cupric and cuprous oxide) for the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants. In this paper, a high performance copper oxide photocatalyst was developed by integrating cupric oxide (CuO) and cuprous oxide (Cu2O) thin films, which showed superior performance for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) compared to the control CuO and Cu2O photocatalyst. Our results show that a heterojunction photocatalyst of CuO-Cu2O thin films could significantly increase the charge collection, reduce the recombination rate, and improve the photocatalytic activity.

Keywords: Cu2O; CuO; heterojunction; photocatalytic degradation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Cross-sectional TEM image and (b) band alignment of the fabricated heterojunction CuO–Cu2O thin film photocatalyst.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Cu2p XPS spectra of the bottom layer of CuO and the top layer of Cu2O.
Figure 3
Figure 3
XRD spectra of the CuO–Cu2O thin films and control CuO and Cu2O thin films with a thickness of 500 nm.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Absorbance spectra of the CuO, Cu2O, and the heterojunction CuO–Cu2O thin films.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Degradation profiles of MB vs. photocatalysis process time. (b) Images of the MB solution before and after photocatalysis by CuO–Cu2O.
Figure 6
Figure 6
IPCE spectra of the CuO, Cu2O, and heterojunction CuO–Cu2O thin film photocatalysts.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Nyquist plot of the CuO, Cu2O and heterojunction CuO–Cu2O thin film photocatalysts.
Figure 8
Figure 8
(a) photoelectrochemical (PEC) current density and (b) photocorrosion stability of the control CuO and Cu2O photocatalysts and CuO–Cu2O photocatalyst.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Proposed schematic illustration of the band structure related photocatalytic mechanism for the CuO–Cu2O heterojunction net.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Effect of scavengers on the photocatalytic activity of CuO–Cu2O.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Reusability of the CuO–Cu2O sample under visible light irradiation during MB degradation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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