Preparation and Enhanced UV‐Visible Light Photoelectrocatalytic Activity of TiO₂‐Fe₂O₃/Cu Ternary Nanocomposites

Abstract

Cu nanomaterials were synthesized by hydrothermal methods. The crystal structure and chemical valence of the samples were characterized by Xray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis DRS). The results show that the TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu nanocomposites have been successfully synthesized and have good UV-Vis absorption properties. The electrocatalytic properties of the samples were characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) and Tafel polarization curve (Taf). The TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu nanocomposites have the highest cathode potential and current density, and the charge transfer resistance in EIS is /Cu for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) were studied under UV-vis irradiation. The results show that the reaction rate constants k of TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu is the relatively highest(12.91 × 10 À 3 min À 1 ), indicating the synthetic of TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu have good photocatalytic properties, which are due to the highest light utilization of TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu and the best charge transfer performance. Cu nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method. It can be observed in XPS and elemental maping that there are Ti, Fe and Cu elements.In addition, the presence of Fe element causes a large red shift in the UV-visible absorption spectrum, which expands the visible light response range. It is known from electrochemical and catalytic tests that the TiO 2 -Fe 2 O 3 /Cu nanocomposites exhibit good photoelectrocatalytic activity. Supporting Information SummaryThe Supporting Information contains contains the experimental section, the characterization techniques, and photocatalyst testing experiments.