Developed interfacial charge transport in super-dimensional CuO branched ZnO nanorods array (CuO B ZnO NRsA)

Abstract

Hierarchical CuO nanobranches have been synthesized through reactive etching of Cu thin film (50–200 nm in thickness) on hydrothermally processed ZnO nanorods array (ZnO NRsA), which in turn fabricated multi-interfacial CuO- ZnO heterostructure. The structural, morphological, elemental content and optical properties of CuO branched ZnO NRs array (CuO – B ZnO NRsA) heterostructures have been investigated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), field emission- scanning electron microscope/ energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FE-SEM /EDX) and UV–Vis- near IR optical absorption spectroscopy, respectively.Chemical etching modifies the surface morphology and manipulates one-dimensional hyperstructures. The CuO – B ZnO NRsA heterostructures improve/expand the optical absorption to visible region in comparison to the bare ZnO NRsA. The charge transferring in CuO – B ZnO NRsA hetero-interface has been engineered, by controlling the thickness of Cu thin film which tuned the electrical conductance and photocatalytic performance. The interfacial electric field can rapidly separate and drift the photoinduced charge carriers, which induces the highest photodegradation efficiency for the reduction of RhB. The electronic transport and the photocatalytic performance can be tuned by length of CuO branches.