Preparation of Cu2O Particles and their Photocatalytic Properties

Photocatalytic technology is a potential way for the environmental problems caused by antibiotics contained in water. In this paper, Cu2O particles were prepared by hydrothermal method. The microstructure and morphology of Cu2O were characterized by XRD, SEM. The optical and electrochemical properties of the prepared samples were studied by UV-Vis and photocurrent. The results show that the prepared Cu2O have an octahedral morphology and exposes more (111) crystal planes, with a particle size of 2-5 μm, and has the better optical absorption performance at 500-600 nm. Finally, the photocatalytic performance of the samples was evaluated using Norfloxacin as the target degradation pollutant. The results show that the degradation rate of Norfloxacin over the prepared Cu2O was 79.8%.The •OH and •O2 − play a major role in degradation of Norfloxacin.