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Surface modification of micro-sized CuO by in situ-growing heterojunctions CuO/Cu2O and CuO/Cu2O/Cu: effect on surface charges and photogenerated carrier lifetime

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Abstract

In photocatalyst design, the rapid recombination of photo-generated electron–hole pairs in the bulk or on the surface of semiconductors is a major limiting factor in achieving high photocatalytic efficiency, which is a key scientific issue. Surface modification is used to change the surface properties of photocatalyst related to dark adsorption and photocatalytic efficiency. In this work, micro-sized CuO powder was surface modified by in situ-growing heterojunctions CuO/Cu2O and CuO/Cu2O/Cu when simply calcinating a mixture of CuO and urea, in which urea acted as a reducing agent. The phases, microstructure, composition, photogenerated carrier lifetime, dark adsorption rate, photodegradation rate, and surface charges of the as-modified powder were investigated. The surface modification was found to change the negative surface charge of micro-sized CuO to a positive one, resulting in enhanced dark adsorption (nearly twice that of pristine CuO). Furthermore, the surface modification prolonged the photogenerated carrier lifetime, which in turn enhanced the photocatalytic efficiency. Overall, this work implies that the electric properties of surface charges and carrier lifetime can be altered by constructing an appropriate heterojunction on the surface of the photocatalyst.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51672090 and 51372092).

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Author notes

  1. Xi Mo and Jiamin Hu contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Efficient Green Energy and Environmental Protection Materials, and Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Physics and Telecommunication of South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Xi Mo, Jiamin Hu, Lingling Shui, Junfeng He, Guannan He, Yinzhen Wang, Wei Li & Qinyu He

  2. Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Hui Shen

  3. Key Lab of Technology on Electrochemical Energy Storage and Power Generation in Guangdong Universities, School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Dong Shu

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  1. Xi Mo
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Mo, X., Hu, J., Shen, H. et al. Surface modification of micro-sized CuO by in situ-growing heterojunctions CuO/Cu2O and CuO/Cu2O/Cu: effect on surface charges and photogenerated carrier lifetime. Appl. Phys. A 124, 719 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-018-2138-8

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