Cu2O-loaded TiO2 heterojunction composites for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

The Cu2O/TiO2 heterogeneous materials were fabricated via simple hydrothermal and physical mixing processes to investigate the photocatalytic H-2 production performance. The morphology evolution of Cu2O was systematically explored by adjusting the amount of chemical reagents. The CT-70 (the additive amount of TiO2 was 70 wt%) exhibited superior photocatalytic activity with H-2 production of 8.33 mmol g(-1) in 6 h, which was about 416 and 49-fold more elevated those of Cu2O and TiO2. The enhancement of H-2 generation was ascribed to the proper band gap structure and the heterojunction between Cu2O and TiO2. This work provides a strategy for the simple preparation of composite materials with high photocatalytic activity. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.