Photoelectrochemical properties of ZnO nanorods decorated with Cu and Cu2O nanoparticles

•Highly c-axis oriented ZnO nanorods were grown on glass using hydrothermal methods.•The microwave preparation of Cu@Cu2O dispersed in Di-ehyleneglycol.•The structural, morphological and optical properties of as-prepared samples was investigated.•Photoelectrochemical study of ZnO NR/Cu2O shown a photocurrent of 0.2 eV.

Cu2O and Cu nanoparticles (NPs) on ZnO nanorods (NRs) were fabricated by two-step process using efficient hydrothermal technique to deposit ZnO nanorods and microwave-irradiation method under ambient conditions to prepare Cu and Cu2O NPs dispersed in Diethyleneglycole. The structure and the morphology of these films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). The optical property was investigated by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy and Cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques. Cu2O NPs/ZnO NRs heterojunction were produced by depositing Cu&Cu2O NPs on as-prepared ZnO NRs using spin-coating method. By changing the drying temperature the Cu metal reduce to Cu2O. In these kinds of heterojunctions, an n-type ZnO layer acts both as a host that chemically binds to the p-type Cu2O which could help in efficient electron–hole separation. The number of Cu2O NPs loaded onto the n-type ZnO layer increases the sensitivity in the visible region. The prepared heterojunctions show improved photocurrent with respect to bare ZnO NRs.