Improved electrocatalytic activity of copper (I) oxide electrodeposited on graphite carbon

Abstract

Due to its abundance and low cost, Cu2O is an attractive electrocatalyst for the water treatment. The electrodeposition is an attractive technique, because of its simplicity, low cost and possibility of making large area as thin homogeneous film of Cu2O with good quality of nanoparticles. This study reports the electrode position of Cu2O thin uniform film which offers the advantages of precise stoichiometry and thickness control (δ = 5.11 μm). The uniform and well-adhered Cu2O red thin film electrodeposited on graphite carbon is used for the electrodegradation of the crystal violet dye (CVD). The gap value is equivalent to 2.02 eV calculated from spectral UV-visible, this value agrees with the red color and indicates semi-conductive properties. A potential Efb equal to 0.43 V and acceptors density of 1.14. 2019 cm-3 and p-type conductivity were determined by the Mott- Schottky measurement. This fact makes Cu2O a good candidate for electrocatalytic activity, pH =7, 25°C temperature, 1.6 V applied voltage and 180 min electrolysis. Cu2O was used to degrade CVD (10 mg /L) via an electrochemical technique. Pseudo-first order kinetics governed the electrochemical decomposition.