Photocatalytic Degradation of Rhodamine B Using 1D CuO/TiO2 Nanofibers Synthesized via the Electrospinning Method

This research was designed to improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers in TiO2through the construction of a PN heterojunction. The motivation behind this was to tackle the problems of the narrow light response range and the high electron-hole recombination rate of TiO2. By simple one-step implementing electrospinning and calcination procedures, CuO/TiO2PN heterojunction nanofibers were successfully synthesized. XRD and SEM analyses confirm that the heterojunction is a nanofiber structure composed of TiO2and CuO, with the TiO2containing anatase and rutile phases. The PL reveals that the fluorescence intensity of the heterojunction is lower compared to that of pure TiO2, and this implies a remarkable enhancement in the carrier separation efficiency. Under xenon light irradiation, for the optimized sample, the degradation rate of RhB exceeds 80%. This degradation rate is 68% higher than that of pure TiO2. The improvement in photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the efficient charge separation driven by the built-in electric field within the PN junction and the extended light absorption range. The photoelectrochemical test further verified that the photocurrent density of the heterojunction system was 52.42% higher than that of the single TiO2, providing a new strategy for designing efficient photocatalytic systems.