Biomimetic synthesis of urchin-like CuO/ZnO nanocomposites with excellent photocatalytic activity

Novel urchin-like CuO/ZnO nanocomposites were synthesized using glutamine (Gln) as a growth regulator by a biomimetic hydrothermal process with subsequent calcination. The urchin-like hierarchical structure is assembled by closely packed and inter-connected nanoparticles with sizes of 20–50 nm. Gln plays key roles in phase composition and morphology due to its competitive coordination with Cu ions and Zn ions. Compared with the prepared ZnO/CuO nanosheets without Gln and pure ZnO with Gln, the urchin-like CuO/ZnO nanocomposites exhibited the most remarkable performance for the degradation of methylene blue dye under UV irradiation. On the basis of the photocatalytic mechanism of urchin-like CuO/ZnO nanocomposites, a direct relationship among the morphology, phase composition and photocatalytic properties is established.