Open AccessConvenient and green soft chemical route to cuprous oxide films and their visible‐light photocatalytic properties
Author(s) -
Zheng Haiyan,
Li Qing,
Zhang Yongping,
Qin Lizhao,
Lin Hua,
Nie Ming
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2015.0100
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , oxide , materials science , visible spectrum , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , catalysis , chemistry , metallurgy , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , engineering
Cuprous oxide (Cu 2 O) films have been synthesised by a convenient and green soft chemical route at room temperature. The films were obtained through the chemical reduction of copper acetate by ascorbic acid in solutions with ethylene glycol and deionised water. X‐ray diffraction, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy, as well as UV–Vis spectroscopy (UV‐Vis) were used to characterise the resulting films. It was obvious from the SEM image that the obtained films were composed of nanosphere particles with a size of 100–400 nm. The photocatalytic activity of degradation of methyl orange (MO) of the obtained Cu 2 O films, H 2 O 2 and H 2 O 2 /Cu 2 O films system under visible light irradiation was also investigated. The results have shown that the system exhibits high catalytic ability under visible light irradiation. Also, there was a strong synergistic effect between the obtained Cu 2 O films and H 2 O 2 when the system was used to degrade MO.