Visible-light-responsive photocatalyst prepared by sintering a TiO2/Cu plate

A visible-light-responsive photocatalyst has been prepared simply by sintering a TiO2-coated Cu plate. The new photocatalyst was able to reduce the concentration of formaldehyde by 8–12% at ca. 296 K with an air flow rate of ca. 0.5 L/min (ca. 1 ppm formaldehyde included), a photocatalyst cross section of 50 × 100 mm2, ca. 50% humidity, and light intensity of 30 W/m2 (white LED light). The reduction rate was approximately two times higher than that for N-doped TiO2 (TiO2−xNx) under almost the same test conditions.