Cu2O-loaded TiO2 heterojunction composites for enhanced photocatalytic H2 production

The Cu2O/TiO2 heterogeneous materials were fabricated via simple hydrothermal and physical mixing processes to investigate the photocatalytic H2 production performance. The morphology evolution of Cu2O was systematically explored by adjusting the amount of chemical reagents. The CT-70 (the additive amount of TiO2 was 70 wt%) exhibited superior photocatalytic activity with H2 production of 8.33 mmol g−1 in 6 h, which was about 416 and 49-fold more elevated those of Cu2O and TiO2. The enhancement of H2 generation was ascribed to the proper band gap structure and the heterojunction between Cu2O and TiO2. This work provides a strategy for the simple preparation of composite materials with high photocatalytic activity.