Synthesis of Cu2O/T-ZnOW nanocompound and characterization of its photocatalytic activity and stability property under UV irradiation

Cu2O/tetrapod-like ZnO whisker (T-ZnOW) nanocompound was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal chemical method. The chemical composition, morphology, band gap and photocatalytic property of the Cu2O/T-ZnOW nanocompound were studied in detail. It was observed that the Cu2O particles deposited on T-ZnOW surface had a cubic structure and the crystallinity of T-ZnOW did not change with the increase of Cu2O crystals. The morphology and content of Cu2O in the Cu2O/T-ZnOW nanocompound played an important role on the photocatalytic activity. In addition, the coexistence of Cu2O and T-ZnOW nanoparticles was propitious to the high photocatalytic activity owing to their hetero-junction effect. The Cu2O/T-ZnOW nanocompound prepared by 7.2% Cu/Zn MR exhibited the best photocatalytic activity on the degradation of MO solution under UV light irradiation. At the first 100 min of irradiation, the photodegradation efficiency of MO solution reached up to 99.16%, which still retained its high photocatalytic activity about 89.10% even at the end of the fourth cycle. Little change was found in their phase compositions after the photocatalytic reaction process, except partial oxidation of particles’ surface. The mechanism for UV light driven photocatalytic activity enhancement over Cu2O/T-ZnOW nanocompound was discussed.

► Cubic Cu2O deposited on the surface of T-ZnOW.
► Largely enhanced T-ZnOW photocatalytic property.
► Cu2O/T-ZnOW compound also exhibits high photodegradation activity after four recycles.