In-situ oxidation synthesis of Cu2O/Ag/AgCl microcubes with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Abstract The hierarchical Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl microcubes were prepared by a facile method at room temperature using Cu 2 O/Ag microcube as a template and CuCl 2 as an oxidant. It was demonstrated that Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl products were obtained successfully because CuCl 2 could only oxidize Ag in Cu 2 O/Ag microcubes into AgCl, while the composition of Ag and AgCl in Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl was controlled by regulating the amount of CuCl 2 . The visible-light photocatalytic activity of the obtained Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl microcubes with different composition was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange (MO). When the ratio of Ag to AgCl is 1:2 of the as-prepared Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl product, 93% of MO can be degraded in 16 min, indicating outstanding visible light photocatalytic performance. It is attributed to the key role of Cu 2 O for promotion separation of the photogenerated carrier by preventing the recombination of the electrons from the AgCl back to the metal Ag through the interface and yields the improved photocatalytic performance. The proposed charge transfer process was verified by the test of active species. The experimental results indicate that the Cu 2 O/Ag/AgCl microcubes can be used for the degradation of organic pollutants.