Photocatalytic performance of TiO2 thin film decorated with Cu2O nanoparticles by laser ablation

Cu2O nanoparticles decorated TiO2 thin films were fabricated by laser ablation. The effects of Cu2O nanoparticles on the structure, optical properties and photocatalytic performance of TiO2 thin film were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectrometer system, optical absorption and photocatalytic evaluation system, respectively. XRD patterns indicate that the decoration has the effect of lowering the grain orientation of Cu2O. The photocatalytic performance in hydrogen generation of Cu2O decorated TiO2 composite thin film was significantly improved compared with that of either Cu2O nanoparticles or TiO2 single layer thin film with 1.70 and 1.77 times, respectively. The oxidation of Cu2O was demonstrated to dominate the photocatalytic performances of Cu2O/TiO2 composite thin films by varying the laser ablation powers.