Cu₂O as an emerging semiconductor in photocatalytic and photoelectrocatalytic treatment of water contaminated with organic substances: a review

Abstract

A wide range of semiconductor photocatalysts have been used over the years in water treatment to eliminate toxic organic substances from wastewater.

Photocatalytic Degradation of Organic Dyes with Magnetically Separable PANI/Fe3O4 Composite under Both UV and Visible‐light Irradiation

“…Compared with traditional methods such as adsorption, biodegradation (bacteria), coagulation, the hydrogenation of organic dyes, photocatalytic degradation of dyes exhibits great promise in environmental remediation thanks to the utilization of the solar spectrum (both UV and visible light), low cost and lack of harmful by-products process. [4] Various semiconductor photocatalysts such as doped CdS, [5] TiO 2 , [6] BiOBr, [7] CdO, [8] Fe 2 O 3 , [9] Cu 2 O, [10] NiO, [11] WO 3 , [12] SnO [13] and ZnO [14] have been utilized to clean hazardous organic dyes from wastewater. [15] It has been noted that those semiconductors were activated mostly under ultraviolet-light irradiation, which requires the high energy-consuming UV light source (only include 4 % of sunlight), restricting the use of sunlight light sources and generating greater costs of purification.…”

Bisphenol A Removal Using Visible Light Driven Cu2O/PVDF Photocatalytic Dual Layer Hollow Fiber Membrane

“…Copper (I) oxide (Cu 2 O), often known as cuprous oxide, has a relatively low bandgap, ranging from 2.0 to 2.4 eV, which makes it a strong candidate for solar energy harvesting. This chemical is plentiful, non-toxic, simple to synthesize, effective in absorbing visible light and inexpensive [21]. Photocatalysts, DNA biosensors, sensors, lithium-ion batteries [21], cancer therapeutic agents, printed electronics, antimicrobial agents and catalysis are just a few of the applications for Cu 2 O [22].…”

“…This chemical is plentiful, non-toxic, simple to synthesize, effective in absorbing visible light and inexpensive [21]. Photocatalysts, DNA biosensors, sensors, lithium-ion batteries [21], cancer therapeutic agents, printed electronics, antimicrobial agents and catalysis are just a few of the applications for Cu 2 O [22].…”

Copper Oxide Thin Film Synthesis, Characterization and Application as Cathode in Photoelectrocatalytic Cell for Methyl Orange Degradation

“…Copper oxide as a p-type semiconductor provides promising results for solar energy conversion Abd-Ellah et al (2016); Sullivan et al (2016); Wick and Tilley (2015), photoelectrochemical water splitting for hydrogen production Luo et al (2016); Ma et al (2015); Wang et al (2016) and photoelectrocatalytic degradation for hazardous waste treatments Koiki and Arotiba (2020); McMichael et al (2021); Muthukumaran et al (2020); Safarvand et al (2020);Yu et al (2018). Furthermore, Cu 2 O is cheaply produced, abundant, environmentally friendly, and less toxic compared to other narrow bandgap semiconductors Guzmán et al (2019); Wick and Tilley (2015).…”