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Facet-Dependent Cuprous Oxide Nanocrystals Decorated with Graphene as Durable Photocatalysts under Visible Light

Authors :
Shou-Heng Liu
Jun-Sheng Lu
Source :
Nanomaterials, Vol 8, Iss 6, p 423 (2018)
Publication Year :
2018
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2018.

Abstract

Three morphologies (octahedral, hierarchical and rhombic dodecahedral) of crystal Cu2O with different facets ({111}, {111}/{110}, and {110}) incorporating graphene sheets (denoted as o-Cu2O-G, h-Cu2O-G and r-Cu2O-G, respectively) have been fabricated by using simple solution-phase techniques. Among these photocatalysts, the r-Cu2O-G possesses the best photocatalytic performance of 98% removal efficiency of methyl orange (MO) with outstanding kinetics for 120 min of visible light irradiation. This enhancement is mainly due to the dangling “Cu” atoms in the highly active {110} facets, resulting in the increased adsorption of negatively charged MO. More importantly, the unique interfacial structures of Cu2O rhombic dodecahedra connected to graphene nanosheets can not only decrease the recombination of electron-hole pairs but also stabilize the crystal structure of Cu2O, as verified by a series of spectroscopic analyses (e.g., X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM)). The effective photocatalysts developed in this work could be applied to the efficient decolorization of negatively charged organic dyes by employing solar energy.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20794991
Volume :
8
Issue :
6
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Nanomaterials
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.6607f2bd43d4698b38024b64b023f3e
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/nano8060423