Facile synthesis of copper oxide nanotubes decorated by TiO2 nanoparticles, optical and photocatalytic activity in water

Abstract

Copper oxide nanotubes decorated by TiO2 nanoparticles (CNTNs) were fabricated by simple three-step method. First, deposition of copper onto cellulose fibres, then thermal oxidation of copper and cellulose fibres and last simply mixing copper oxide nanotubes and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs). Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction showed that the synthesised nanotubes were monoclinic-structured polycrystalline CuO with diameter and wall thickness of approximately 50∼100 nm and 20∼25 nm, respectively. Moreover, the diameter of the TiO2 NPs is about 20∼30 nm. Optical properties of the solutions containing copper oxide nanotubes decorated by TiO2 NPs were studied. Discrete dipole approximation was used for the calculation of absorption, scattering and extinction cross sections of the deposited CNTNs on a glass substrate. Our simulation results show that there are good agreements between the experimental date and the simulation results. Moreover, the photocatalytic tests were done by methyl orange under visible light (λ = 633 nm) irradiation for prepared samples.