Excellent visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance of Cu2O sensitized NaNbO3 heterostructures

Abstract

The photocatalytic activity of Cu₂O/NaNbO₃ (CNO) heterostructures for the first time is reported in this work. Pure NaNbO₃ photocatalyst was synthesized via a facile hydrothermal reaction using Nb₂O₅ and NaOH as the precursors. A series of Cu₂O nanoparticle-modified NaNbO₃ was prepared via the chemical reduction of a Cu salt. The composition and morphology of the prepared CNO samples were characterized using variety of analytical methods. The results showed that the Cu₂O nanoparticles were well distributed over the surface of the cube NaNbO₃ microstructure. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared samples was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. The effects of MO degradation showed that the Cu₂O nanoparticles could act as a sensitizer for improving the visible light absorption of NaNbO₃ cubes. We proposed a heterostructure between Cu₂O and NaNbO₃, by which the recombination of electrons and holes is efficiently inhibited and the photocatalytic activity is enhanced.