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

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 similar to 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/TiO 2 (60 wt%, labeled as CT-60) exhibits the highest enhanced photocatalytic activity in hydrogen production with H-2 evolution of 3002.5 mu mol 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/TiO(2 )p-n heterojunction composites could provide an alternative method to design highly efficient photocatalysts for solar energy.