TiO₂/Cu₂O Core/Ultrathin Shell Nanorods as Efficient and Stable Photocatalysts for Water Reduction

Abstract

P-type Cu2 O has been long considered as an attractive photocatalyst for photocatalytic water reduction, but few successful examples has been reported. Here, we report the synthesis of TiO2 (core)/Cu2 O (ultrathin film shell) nanorods by a redox reaction between Cu(2+) and in-situ generated Ti(3+) when Cu(2+) -exchanged H-titanate nanotubes are calcined in air. Owing to the strong TiO2 -Cu2 O interfacial interaction, TiO2 (core)/Cu2 O (ultrathin film shell) nanorods are highly active and stable in photocatalytic water reduction. The TiO2 core and Cu2 O ultrathin film shell respectively act as the photosensitizer and cocatalyst, and both the photoexcited electrons in the conduction band and the holes in the valence band of TiO2 respectively transfer to the conduction band and valence band of the Cu2 O ultrathin film shell. Our results unambiguously show that Cu2 O itself can act as the highly active and stable cocatalyst for photocatalytic water reduction.

Passivation of defect states in anatase TiO2 hollow spheres with Mg doping: Realizing efficient photocatalytic overall water splitting

“…Examination of the 0.5% Mg-TiO 2 with high-resolution (HR)-TEM shows that the lattice fringes are perpendicular interplanar spacings with d 101 = 3.52 Å and d 010 = 3.78 Å, which is consistent with the anatase crystal structure (Fig. 1d) [8].…”

“…Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) is the benchmark semiconductor used in photocatalysis [4][5][6]. Among the three phases of TiO 2 , anatase is the most active phase for photocatalytic H 2 generation [7,8]. In recent decades, many groups have tried variety of methods, such as nanotechnology, selective facets, cocatalysts, etc., to modify the anatase TiO 2 [9][10][11].…”

N-doped graphene grown on silk cocoon-derived interconnected carbon fibers for oxygen reduction reaction and photocatalytic hydrogen production

“…As known, photolytic water splitting is promising if low-cost semiconductors with scalable preparation routes are used [52][53][54][55]. Recently, growing demands for metal-free photocatalysts based on earth-abundant elements (e.g., g-C 3 N 4 ) have attracted much attention [56][57][58][59].…”

Facile in-situ synthesis of 2D/3D g-C3N4/Cu2O heterojunction for high-performance photocatalytic dye degradation

“…Among suitable semiconductors for constructing heterojunctions with g-C 3 N 4 , Cu 2 O has been widely considered as an efficient cocatalyst coupled with semiconductors with wide band Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. structure due to its direct band gap of 2.0 eV, abundance, nontoxicity and low cost [16][17][18][19]. For pristine g-C 3 N 4 , the inherent drawback of fast photogenerated e − -h + pairs recombination rate can be overcomed by coupling with Cu 2 O.…”