A low cost flexible photocatalyst based on silver decorated Cu2O nanowires

Abstract

In this study a low cost photocatalyst design was introduced based on the silver nanoparticle decorated Cu 2 O nanowires that were grown on flexible copper substrate. Photocatalyst was characterized by using scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray scattering (EDS), UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray diffractometer. Band gap energy values for Cu 2 O and Ag decorated Cu 2 O were determined as 2.37 eV and 2.17 eV respectively. Photocatalytic activity was tested against methylene blue (MB) degradation at three different pH values. Although no noticeable difference was observed, pH 5.3 was faster. Decreasing methylene blue concentration was followed up by UV-vis spectroscopy. Visible light adsorption increased by decorating the Cu 2 O nanowires with silver nanoparticles. Kinetics of degradation was found to be first order with a R-squared value of 0.99. Nearly total MB was degraded at 300 min. Degradation was verified by high pressure liquid chromatography. Absence of initial MB retention peaks showed a successfully degradation under 100 W LED light illumination. Flexible copper support under the nanowire arrays presents an advantage of easy removal for the photocatalyst. After the end of the reaction, no photocatalyst residue is left when compared to the powder photocatalyst systems eliminating the heavy filtration processes.

In Situ Construction of Bronze/Anatase TiO2 Homogeneous Heterojunctions and Their Photocatalytic Performances

“…However, most currently available photocatalysts fail to achieve a balance between a high efficiency and a low cost [ 7 , 8 ]. The modification of inexpensive, widely available photocatalysts to enhance their photocatalytic performances has become an important research direction for photocatalytic degradation technology [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. TiO 2 is a non-toxic, non-hazardous, and low-cost photocatalyst with stable performance, but it exhibits poor photocatalytic performance, which must be enhanced to meet the needs of practical applications [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”