One-step hydrothermal synthesis and characterization of Cu-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles/nanobucks/nanorods with enhanced photocatalytic performance under simulated solar light

Cu–TiO₂ and pure TiO₂ were prepared by a facile one-step hydrothermal method and the obtained photocatalysts were tested by XRD, Raman, BET, XPS, DRS, PL, SEM and TEM, respectively. The results show that both pure and Cu–TiO₂ consist of most rutile and a small amount of anatase, and present the morphology with nanoparticles, nanobucks and nanorods coexistence. The specific surface area and the separation rate of photogenerated electrons and holes increase after Cu doping. The photocatalytic experiment results illustrate that Cu–TiO₂ exhibit better photocatalytic activity than pure TiO₂ under simulated solar light. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is derived from the increased specific surface area providing more reaction sites and the conversion between Cu²⁺ and Cu⁺ increasing the separation rate of photogenerated pairs. 3%Cu–TiO₂ shows the best photocatalytic activity owing to its largest specific surface area and lowest recombination rate. The degradation rate of RhB reaches 99.4% after 60 min, and the reaction rate constant is 0.076 min⁻¹.