Controlled growth of CuO/Cu2O hollow microsphere composites as efficient visible-light-active photocatalysts

• CuO/Cu2O with tunable morphology and composition was hydrothermally synthesized.
• CuO/Cu2O composite was found to be hollow microspheres morphology.
• CuO/Cu2O composite displayed the highest visible light photocatalytic activity.
• Enhanced mechanism was attributed to unique hollow structure and heterostructure.

Copper oxide composites with tunable composition and morphology were hydrothermally synthesized and used as highly efficient photocatalysts towards the degradation of dye pollutants under visible light irradiation. Effects of key synthesis reaction parameters, i.e., soft template (P123), pH of precursor solution, hydrothermal reaction temperature, the durations on the resultant copper oxide structures have been systematically investigated and a tentative mechanism was proposed for the formation of the copper oxide composites with different synthesis reaction parameters. Furthermore, the photocatalytic activities of resultant copper oxide materials towards the degradation of dye (methyl orange) demonstrated strong dependence on the compositional and morphological properties of the photocatalysts. CuO/Cu2O hollow microsphere composites exhibited the highest visible light photocatalytic activity that can be attributed to their unique hollow structure and CuO/Cu2O heterostructure. The demonstrated controlled growth of metal oxide composite hollow structure provides enlightenments in fabrication of highly efficient heterostructured photocatalysts for environmental remediation.

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