A facile room temperature solution-phase route to synthesize CuO nanowires with enhanced photocatalytic performance

Abstract

CuO nanowires have been prepared with high yield at low cost by a facile room temperature solution phase route. The composition, morphology and size of the as-prepared CuO nanowires were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The UV–vis absorption spectra demonstrate that the as-prepared CuO nanowires exhibit quantum size confinement effects. The photocatalytic properties of CuO nanowires were further investigated by evaluating on photo-degradation of a model pollutant rhodamine B (RhB). The experimental results indicated that CuO nanowires have enhanced photocatalytic performance with 95.5% decomposition of RhB after 9h reaction under UV light irradiation, which was much higher than that of commercial CuO powders (39.6%).