pe-01-2023-15-21

Journal: Pollution and Environment (PE)
Author: Yalin Chen, Yiyang Wang, Lingfeng Ma,Qian Xu, Bo Ma

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Doi:10.7508/pe.01.2023.15.21

Energy shortage and environmental pollution have emerged as significant challenges in China’s social development. The demand for research and development of efficient new energy materials and the of environmental pollutants in photocatalytic hydrogen production is increasing rapidly. Achieving controllable synthesis of efficient catalytic materials has become a major concern for both domestic and foreign scientists. In this study, Cu2 O-Cu polyhedral heterostructures were synthesized in situ through hydrothermal reaction. The samples were characterized using SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, and EPR techniques, followed by testing their photocatalytic properties. Experimental results demonstrate that Cu nanoparticles are reduced in situ on the surface of Cu2 O polyhedral particles to successfully construct surface-supported heterostructures. Photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange solution (MO) was conducted under visible light irradiation. Compared to the catalytic degradation rate of 9.8% achieved by Cu2 O particles alone, the photocatalytic performance of Cu2 O-Cu heterogeneous particles further improved with an increase in the number of supported particles reaching a degradation rate of 87.2%. Therefore, the quantity of Cu nanoparticles within Cu2 O-Cu heterogeneous particles plays a crucial role in enhancing their photocatalytic degradation efficiency towards organic matter by improving light absorption characteristics and facilitating effective transfer of photogenerated electrons. This work further provides valuable insights for designing surfacesupported photocatalysts.