The influence of the Cu2O deposition method on the structure, morphology and photoresponse of the ordered TiO2NTs/Cu2O heterojunction

Abstract

The increased interest in highly ordered titania structures exhibiting tubular shape that could be directly formed onto the stable substrate is related with the intensive research on their modification enabling absorption of light within the wide solar spectrum and its further conversion into electric or chemical energy. Among others, formation of uniform 3D heterojunctions based on the TiO2 nanotubes attracts attention since porous structure provides highly developed surface area whereas tubular shape ensures facilitated charge transport. Following that, we focus on the comparison of different electrochemical routes leading to the formation of Cu2O onto the titania nanotubes platform to improve energy harvesting. Proposed approach includes optimized potentiostatic and pulsed polarization of titania immersed in the basic electrolyte composed of Cu2+ ions stabilized by lactic acid. In this work, we demonstrate that at strictly selected deposition parameters, namely time, pulse width and cycle number, one can obtain titania nanotubes overgrown by Cu2O species uniformly distributed across the whole TiO2 layer as proved by secondary ion mass-spectrometry. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies indicated purely Cu(I) oxide formation for pulsed deposition route. The photoactivity of obtained materials was verified both under vis and UV–vis irradiation. Depending on the incident light spectrum, variation in photoactivity was observed that is directly related with the charges generation and their transport within the junction. The transient photocurrent measurements show strong photocurrent enhancement for Cu2O modified titania comparing to pristine support and satisfactory photostability under visible light without any protective coating.