Experimental Study on Photocatalytic Activity of Cu2O/Cu Nanocomposites Under Visible Light

Cu2O/Cu nanocomposites (NCs) are synthesized using a two-step hydrothermal method, their different phase compositions are obtained by adjusting the reaction time, and then, they are used as photocatalysts to degrade dye Procion Red MX-5B (PR), methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) under visible-light. Experimental results indicate Cu2O/Cu NCs exhibit a much higher photocatalytic activity than pure Cu2O, they remain almost unchanged in their phase compositions in the long photocatalytic reaction process, except for partial oxidation of particle surface. They still exhibit a high photocatalytic activity even at the end of four photocatalytic reaction cycles. It can therefore be concluded that Cu2O/Cu nanocomposites are good candidates for processing of pollutant water.