Facile fabrication of p–n heterojunctions for Cu2O submicroparticles deposited on anatase TiO2 nanobelts

In this paper, Cu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts with p–n semiconductor heterojunction structure were successfully prepared via a two-step preparation process to investigate electron-transfer performance between p-type Cu2O and n-type TiO2. Various measurement results confirm that the amount of pure Cu2O submicroparticles, with diameters within the range of 200–400 nm and deposited on the surface of TiO2 nanobelts, can be controlled, and that the purity of Cu2O is heavily affected by reaction time. Visible-light photodegradation activities of Rhodamine B show that photocatalysts have little or no photocatalytic activities mainly due to their p–n heterojunction structure, indicating that there hardly appears any electron-transfer from Cu2O to TiO2.

Graphical abstractCu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts with p–n semiconductor heterojunction structure were successfully prepared via two-step preparation process, and their visible-light photodegradation activities of Rhodamine B were investigated in detail.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights▶ Cu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts mainly with diameters in a range of 200–400 nm were successfully prepared. ▶ The amount of Cu2O particles deposited on TiO2 nanobelts can be tuned. ▶ The composite structure with Cu2O particles and TiO2 nanobelts exhibits p–n semiconductor heterojunction performance. ▶ Photocatalytic properties of such composites.