Facile fabrication of p-n heterojunctions for Cu2O submicroparticles deposited on anatase TiO2 nanobelts

Graphical abstract: Cu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts with p-n semiconductor heterojunction structure were successfully prepared via two-step preparation process, and their visible-light photodegradation activities of Rhodamine B were investigated in detail. Highlights: → Cu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts mainly with diameters in a range of 200-400 nm were successfully prepared. → The amount of Cu2O particles deposited on TiO2 nanobelts can be tuned. → The composite structure with Cu2O particles and TiO2 nanobelts exhibits p-n semiconductor heterojunction performance. → Photocatalytic properties of such composites. -- Abstract: In this paper, Cu2O particle-deposited TiO2 nanobelts with p-n semiconductor heterojunction structure were successfully prepared via a two-step preparation process to investigate electron-transfer performance between p-type Cu2O and n-type TiO2. Various measurement results confirm that the amount of pure Cu2O submicroparticles, with diameters within the range of 200-400 nm and deposited on the surface of TiO2 nanobelts, can be controlled, and that the purity of Cu2O is heavily affected by reaction time. Visible-light photodegradation activities of Rhodamine B show that photocatalysts have little or no photocatalytic activities mainly due to their p-n heterojunction structure, indicating that there hardly appears any electron-transfer from Cu2O to TiO2.