One-step chemical bath deposition and photocatalytic activity of Cu2O thin films with orientation and size controlled by a chelating agent

Nano-structured Cu2O thin films have been prepared by a one-step chemical bath deposition method. The number density, crystallite size, surface morphology and orientation of these thin films could be tailored by chelating agent. The results confirmed that the crystallite size as well as the orientation of the thin films was dependent on the volume of TSC, showed that the band gap ranged from 2.71 eV to 2.49 eV. The formation mechanism of the Cu2O particles could be illuminated by an oriented attachment mode. In addition, the obtained Cu2O thin films degraded methyl orange efficiently in the presence of H2O2 under the irradiation of visible light, and the mechanism for photocatalytic reaction was also discussed in detail.