Ag‐Decorated Chrysanthemum‐Like CuO–TiO2 Thin Film: Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B

Photocatalysis has attracted attention as a method for purifying pollutants, but how to simply and efficiently prepare catalyst films with high surface areas is still a challenge. Herein, a chrysanthemum‐like CuO–TiO 2 –Ag photocatalyst is prepared by anodic oxidation and magnetron sputtering. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry analyses show that Ag nanoparticles are uniformly modified on the surface of chrysanthemum‐like CuO–TiO 2 . Moreover, the influences of the thickness of the TiO 2 film and the content of Ag nanoparticles on the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) are studied by controlling the sputtering time. Among the prepared nanocomposites, the chrysanthemum‐like CuO–TiO 2 ‐2.5‐Ag‐2 proves to have the maximal degradation level with regard to RhB by removing 91.16% RhB after 120 min under UV light. This is because the large surface area offers more active sites. In addition, the trapping experiments show that when CuO–TiO 2 is decorated by Ag nanoparticles, this contributes to the movement of a number of photogenerated electrons from the conduction band of TiO 2 to Ag, thereby improving the efficiency of charge transfer. The findings reveal that the photodegradation efficiency of the prepared nanocomposites in this study is greatly related to the thickness of the TiO 2 film and the content of Ag nanoparticles.