Facile synthesis of Cu2O/TiO2 (P25) composites with enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution activity

Hydrogen (H-2) produced by photocatalytic water splitting on semiconductor is a prospective way to make full use of solar energy. Here, we synthesized a composite consisting of P25 nanoparticles combined with open hollow sphere cuprous oxide (Cu2O) through a simple one-pot hydrothermal method. Cu2O/TiO2 (P25) (60 wt%, labeled as CP-60) exhibited the highest H-2 evolution rate as high as 2.55 mmol g(-1) h(-1), which was 41.46 and 3.88 folds higher than pure Cu2O and P25. The improvement of photocatalytic H-2 performance is mainly due to the formation of Cu2O/TiO2 (P25) p-n heterojunction, which effectively separates the electron hole pairs (e(-)-h(+)) and improves the charge transfer rate of the materials. Meanwhile, the excellent H-2 production performance is also attributed to the effective use of sunlight under the synergistic effect of visible light and ultraviolet light. This work presents a simple and feasible method to enhance the activity and stability of Cu2O photocatalytic H-2 production.

Automated summary

This study successfully enhanced the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production by synthesizing a composite of Cu2O and TiO2, mainly due to the formation of a p-n heterojunction that effectively separated the electron hole pairs and improved the charge transfer rate of the materials. In addition, this method effectively utilized the synergistic effect of visible light and ultraviolet light.