Preparation and photocatalytic activity of cuprous oxides

Cuprous oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles and microcubes have been successfully fabricated by reduce of CuSO4 using ascorbic acid at room temperature. The as-synthesized products were easily separation and purification, because there were no template or surfactant has been introduced. All of the samples were characterized by X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) and ultraviolet and visible light spectrometer (UV–vis). The microscale Cu2O samples exhibited a high catalytic activity on photodegradation of methyl orange by visible light. It was found that Cu2O microcubes have higher photocatalytic activity and the photocatalytic degradation ratio of methyl orange reached to 98.1%.