Preparation and Photoelectrochemical Characterization of p-Cu<sub>2</sub>O/n-TiO<sub>2</sub> Nanotubes

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Abstract

A two-step electrochemical anodization method was used to fabricate the TiO₂ nanotube electrode, and Cu₂O was deposited onto the annealed TiO₂ nanotubes arrays via the galvanostatic electrodeposition method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (UV-vis DRS) were used to identify the characterization of the samples. The SEM results show that TiO₂ nanotubes align vertically on the Ti substrate with an average tube diameter of 50 nm and a tube length of approximately 1 μm. The Cu₂O nanoparticles are uniformly deposited on the TiO₂ nanotubes arrays. The XRD results show that the structures of TiO₂ and Cu₂O are anatase and cubic, respectively. XPS results reveal the existence states of Cu and Ti in Cu₂O/TiO₂ are Cu¹⁺ and Ti²⁺, correspondingly. UV-vis DRS results reveal the deposited Cu₂O expands the ability of light absorption to the visible area. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) tests reveal that fabricated Cu₂O/TiO₂ shows better activity and the photocurrent density of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ is more than 2 times compared with those of the TiO₂ nanotubes. The photoconversion efficiency of the Cu₂O/TiO₂ reaches 0.41% at 0.735 V (vs. RHE) when the deposition amount of Cu₂O is 5.18×10^-7 mol. The Cu₂O/TiO₂ was annealed to enhance the performance. By annealing at 373 K for 0.5 h in air, the photoconversion efficiency of the annealed sample is up to 0.65% (0.759 V vs. RHE). The stability of the CT-0.1 and CT-0.1-373 was investigated at last. The test of continuous linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) of 100 times reveal that CT-0.1-373 remains a photoconversion efficiency of 0.64% (0.762 V vs. RHE) after 100 scans, while CT-0.1 remains a photoconversion efficiency of 0.38%, which reveals annealing at low temperatures not only improves the activity but also enhances the stability of the Cu₂O/TiO₂.

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	Articles by authors
	Zhang Libo
	Wang Hua
	Han Jinyu

Keywords： TiO₂ nanotubes； Cu₂O/TiO₂ heterojunction composite electrode； annealing； photoelectrochemical performance

Received 2016-03-16;

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Zhang Libo, Wang Hua, Han Jinyu.Preparation and Photoelectrochemical Characterization of p-Cu₂O/n-TiO₂ Nanotubes[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2017,V34(5): 11-18

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