Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2014, Vol. 30 ›› Issue (8): 1535-1542.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201405221

• CATALYSIS AND SURFACE SCIENCE • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Visible Light Photocatalytic Performance of Cu2O/TiO2 Nanotube Heterojunction Composites Prepared by Pulse Deposition

ZHANG Jian-Fang1,3, WANG Yan2,3, SHEN Tian-Kuo2,3, SHU Xia2,3, CUI Jie-Wu2,3, CHEN Zhong2,4, WU Yu-Cheng2,3   

  1. 1. School of Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, P. R. China;
    2. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, P. R. China;
    3. Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Devices of Anhui Province, Hefei 230009, P. R. China;
    4. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798, Singapore
  • Received:2014-03-21 Revised:2014-05-22 Published:2014-07-18
  • Contact: WANG Yan, WU Yu-Cheng E-mail:stone@hfut.edu.cn;ycwu@hfut.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51302060, 51128201, 51272062, 51311130317), Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, China (20130111120019), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province, China (1308085QE74), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (2012HGBZ0648).

Abstract:

Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays (TNAs) were fabricated by an electrochemical anodization process and Cu2O nanoparticles were subsequently deposited onto these TNAs via pulse deposition to form Cu2O/TiO2 nanotube heterojunction composite materials. Samples were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Vis diffusion reflection spectroscopy (DRS). The photocatalytic performances of the Cu2O/TiO2 composites were investigated by following the visible-light induced photocatalytic decomposition of methyl orange (MO). The results indicated that the inner surfaces and interfaces of the TNAs had been successfully modified with uniformly distributed Cu2O nanoparticles, and that these composites could effectively improve the visible light photocatalytic performance. The Cu2O/TiO2 nanotube composite obtained using 0.01 mol·L-1 CuSO4 solution exhibited the best photocurrent and photocatalytic performance. Based on the results obtained, a possible photocatalytic mechanism is also discussed.

Key words: TiO2 nanotube array, Pulse deposition, Cu2O/TiO2 nanotube heterojunction, Photoelectrochemical property, Photocatalysis