A novel fabrication of Cu2O@Cu7S4 core-shell micro/nanocrystals from Cu2O temples and enhanced photocatalytic activities

• The Cu2O@Cu7S4 core-shell crystals maintained the same morphology with template.
• The crystals exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity than the pure Cu2O crystals.
• The photocatalytic activity of different R crystals is diverse from each other.
• A possible formation mechanism has been proposed.

Uniform and monodispersed Cu2O@Cu7S4 core-shell micro/nanocrystals have been synthesized successfully at room temperature via a simple chemical etching reaction, using Cu2O as sacrificial template. The structure and properties of the crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS). The photocatalytic activity of the Cu2O@Cu7S4 crystals was evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of MeO (methyl orange) aqueous solution at ambient temperature under visible-light irradiation. The results show that the as-prepared Cu2O@Cu7S4 crystals revealed core-shell structure, which maintained the same morphology with corresponding template and were composed of cuboctahedron Cu7S4 shell and active Cu2O core. Due to the unique Cu2O@Cu7S4 core-shell structure, the crystals exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activity than that of the pure Cu2O crystals, and the photocatalytic activity of different R crystals is diverse from each other. A possible formation mechanism has been proposed.

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