Abstract
Cu2O nanoparticles with controllable facets are of great significance for photocatalysis. In this work, the surface termination and facet orientation of Cu2O nanoparticles are accurately tuned by adjusting the amount of hydroxylamine hydrochloride and surfactant. It is found that Cu2O nanoparticles with Cu-terminated (110) or (111) surfaces show high photocatalytic activity, while other exposed facets show poor reactivity. Density functional theory simulations confirm that sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant can lower the surface free energy of Cu-terminated surfaces, increase the density of exposed Cu atoms at the surfaces and thus benefit the photocatalytic activity. It also shows that the poor reactivity of the Cu-terminated Cu2O (100) surface is due to the high energy barrier of holes at the surface region.
Highlights
Semiconductor photocatalysts have raised significant research interests due to their promising applications in both solar energy conversion and environmental purification.[1−5] Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a p-type semiconductor with a direct band gap of 2.0−2.2 eV that has shown great potential for photocatalysis.[6]
The evolution of morphology indicates the preferential adsorption of Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) on different facets, tailoring the growth of Cu2O nanocrystals
The phase and purity of the products were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements
Summary
Semiconductor photocatalysts have raised significant research interests due to their promising applications in both solar energy conversion and environmental purification.[1−5] Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is a p-type semiconductor with a direct band gap of 2.0−2.2 eV that has shown great potential for photocatalysis.[6]. Cu2O nanoparticles could come in different architectures, e.g. cube,[10] octahedral,[11] rhombic dodecahedral,[12] truncated octahedral,[13] and 18-facet polyhedral.[14] The basic low-index facets are (100), (111), and (110), and their facet-dependent properties such as conductivity,[15] stability,[16] and photocatalytic activity[17] have been carefully studied. Cu2O (100) facets are known to show low photocatalytic activity, while (111) and (110) facets are reported to have higher reactivity. SDS is reported to show preferential adsorption on different facets according to the reaction conditions.[8] the effects on the atomic arrangements and photocatalytic activity of various facets of SDS adsorption still remain unclear
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