Fabrication of plasmonic Hollow-Cu2O/Pt nanocages with inter-embedded nanoparticles subunits heterojunctions for efficient photocatalytic degradation and hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Semiconductor-based photocatalytic technology is considered as an effective and economical approach to solve the degradation of pollutants and the generation of new energy sources. However, suboptimal utilization of solar energy and fast combination of photocarriers greatly affects the catalytic performance. In this paper, plasmonic Hollow-Cu₂O/Pt nanocages were synthesized by a template method, which have a shell layer with inter-embedded Cu₂O and Pt nanoparticles subunits heterojunctions. Compared to cubic Cu₂O and Cu₂O/Pt, the nanocages exhibit much better photocatalytic properties. 5 mg of Hollow-Cu₂O/Pt can achieve a degradation efficiency of 91.2 % for methyl orange (20 mg/L) under near-infrared light irradiation, and 96 % for methyl orange (50 mg/L) under visible light irradiation. Moreover, the hollow-Cu₂O/Pt nanocages offer an enhanced degradation of antibiotics and a photocatalytic hydrogen production evolution, indicating that the nanocages have potential photocatalytic applications for the degradation of different pollutants and the hydrogen evolution. The superior photocatalytic performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of multiple advantages, including the larger specific surface area, the closer d-band center, the multiple diffuse reflection, the LSPR effect and the enhanced local electromagnetic field. This study offers a promising strategy to optimize integrated nanocage cooperated with subunit heterostructure and LSPR effect.