Cu2O/TiO2 heterostructured hollow sphere with enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity

• Cu2O deposited TiO2 hollow sphere heterostructures have been prepared.
• The well designed heterostructure is beneficial for the charge separation.
• The enhanced visible light photocatalytic activity was achieved on the catalyst.
• The catalysts also display a relatively high stability during the catalytic reaction.

The Cu2O/TiO2 heterostructured hollow spheres (Cu2O/TiO2HS) were successfully prepared. The developed Cu2O/TiO2 heterojunction material has a spherical hollow structure with diameters about 750–950 nm and shell thickness of 20–30 nm, on which the p-type Cu2O and n-type TiO2 nanoparticles are closely contacted with each other. The well designed heterojunction structure is beneficial for the charge separation in photocatalytic reaction. The UV–vis absorption spectra showed that the Cu2O/TiO2HS catalyst displayed a better ability for visible light absorption compared to the pure TiO2HS. The as prepared samples showed improved solar light and visible light induced photocatalytic activities by decomposing Rhodamine B. The greatly enhanced activity can be attributed to the well designed heterojunction and the hollow structure of TiO2HS, which can simultaneously enhance the charge separation efficiency and facilitate the Rhodamine B adsorption.

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