Selective growth of Au nanograins on specific positions (tips, edges and facets) of Cu2O octahedrons to form Cu2O-Au hierarchical heterostructures

This communication demonstrates a novel strategy for the selective growth of Au nanograins (AuNGs) on specific positions (tips, edges and facets) of Cu2O octahedrons to form Cu2O-Au hierarchical heterostructures. The surface energy distribution of the octahedrons generally follows the order of gamma((facets)) < gamma((edges)) < gamma((tips)) and leads to the preferential growth and evolution of the heterostructures. These novel Cu2O-Au hierarchical heterostructures show fascinating degradations of methylene blue (MB), due to the suppressed electron/hole recombination phenomena and the highly efficient light harvesting.