Synthesis and photocatalytic properties of Cu2O/BiOCl semiconductor films

Author

Cong Wang ; Fangfang Zhang ; Jiushan Cheng ; Yinfang Cui ; Sujuan Wu

Author_Institution

Dept. of Phys., Beihang Univ., Beijing, China

Volume

2

fYear

2014

fDate

19-21 Aug. 2014

Firstpage

662

Lastpage

665

Abstract

Cu₂O/BiOCl composite films were synthesized by a simple two-step-method: sol-gel dip-coating technique and magnetron sputtering. At first, the BiOCl thin film was prepared on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate via a simple sol-gel dip-coating technique. Then the Cu₂O thin film was fabricated on the surface of the BiOCl thin film by magnetron sputtering. Their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) under UV and visible light irradiation, respectively. It was found that the photocatalytic activity of the Cu₂O/BiOCl composite films was higher than single BiOCl thin film and single Cu₂O thin film. The photocatalytic efficiency of the as-synthesized films seems to strongly depend, that is mainly due to both of the Cu₂O works as a sensitizer absorbing visible light and the Cu₂O/BiOCl hetero-junction promoting the separation rate of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. The mechanism has been discussed on the interparticle charge transfer between two semiconductors while they have the suitable relative band position.

Keywords

bismuth compounds; catalysis; charge transfer states; composite materials; copper compounds; dip coating; dyes; electron-hole recombination; photochemistry; semiconductor growth; semiconductor heterojunctions; semiconductor thin films; sol-gel processing; sputter deposition; BiOCl thin film preparation; BiOCl thin film surface; Cu₂O-BiOCl; ITO; ITO substrate; UV irradiation; composite film synthesis; hetero-junction; indium tin oxide substrate; interparticle charge transfer; magnetron sputtering; photo-generated electron-hole pairs; photocatalytic activity; photocatalytic degradation; photocatalytic properties; relative band position; rhodamine B dye; semiconductor film synthesis; sensitizer absorbing visible light; sol-gel dip-coating technique; visible light irradiation; Degradation; Magnetic films; Radiation effects; Sputtering; Substrates; BiOCl; Cu2O; UV-Vis absorption; nanocomposites; photocatalytic activity;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Materials for Renewable Energy and Environment (ICMREE), 2013 International Conference on

Conference_Location

Chengdu

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-3335-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICMREE.2013.6893760

Filename

6893760