Tailoring heterostructures of Ag/Cu2O hybrids for enhanced photocatalytic degradationdegradation

s A facile solution deposition method using the etched Cu2O truncated octahedrons as the substrates has been successfully demonstrated for tailoring Ag/Cu2O heterostructures with excellent reproducibility, and Ag nanoparticles have been deposited on the surface of different Cu2O particles including freshly prepared Cu2O truncated octahedrons, the etched Cu2O truncated octahedrons, Cu2O cube assemblies and Cu2O octahedron assemblies. The obtained tailoring Ag/Cu2O heterostructures prepared by the etched Cu2O truncated octahedrons exhibits enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MB solution under visible-light irradiation, and the photocatalytic activity of tailoring Ag/Cu2O heterostructures was 3.1 and 5.7 times higher than those of the etched Cu2O truncated octahedrons and bare Cu2O truncated octahedrons. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of tailoring Ag/Cu2O heterostructures can be attributed to tailoring surface of Cu2O truncated octahedrons, the enhancement of UV–vis absorbance spectra and electron sink effect due to Ag nanoparticle deposition. The facilely prepared tailoring Ag/Cu2O heterostructure products are promising materials in fields such as photocatalytic and optoelectronic applications.