In-situ chemical vapor deposition to fabricate Cuprous oxide/copper sulfide core-shell flowers with boosted and stable wide-spectral region photocatalytic performance

Cu 2 O is widely used in the visible-light photocatalytic field, but its photocatalytic activity and stability still need to be further enhanced. Thus, searching for an efficient method to inhibit photocorrosion of Cu 2 O and boost its photogenerated charge carriers’ separation is very important and challenging. Herein, Cu 2 O@CuS core-shell hexapetalous flowers were synthesized by hydrothermal and in-situ chemical vapor deposition (CVD) strategy. The Cu 2 O hexapetalous flowers were firstly obtained through hydrothermal procedure, and then CuS in-situ grew on Cu 2 O to form core-shell structure by CVD, which effectively inhibited the photocorrosion of Cu 2 O. Meanwhile, Cu 2 O@CuS core-shell structure could extend their light absorption ranges from 200 to 1500 nm; promote the separation of electrons and holes in photocatalytic system. Thus, under the wide-spectral region, Cu 2 O@CuS exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance for the degradation of tetracycline at 91% with good cycling ability, resulting from the effective separation of photogenerated charges, more free radicals such as OH and O 2 − , increases of utilization rate of visible-light. These results indicate that in-situ CVD strategy is a feasible method to improve visible-light photocatalytic activity and stability of Cu 2 O.