Au nanoparticles decorated CuO nanowire arrays with enhanced photocatalytic properties

•Au nanoparticles decorated CuO nanowire arrays have been prepared.•The composition, morphology and microstructure are characterized by XRD, SEM and TEM.•The photocatalytic properties of Au–CuO hybrid structures are investigated by photo-degradation of rhodamine B.•The results showed that Au nanoparticles decorated CuO nanowire arrays have enhanced photocatalytic performance as compare with CuO nanowire arrays and commercial CuO powders.

Au nanoparticles decorated CuO nanowire arrays have been successfully prepared and investigated their photocatalytic activity. It has been found that Au–CuO nanowire arrays exhibit enhanced photocatalytic performance with 92.7% decomposition of rhodamine B (RhB) after 8 h reaction under UV exposure, which is much higher than that of CuO nanowire arrays (65%) and commercial CuO powders (44%).

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