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Monodisperse CuO Hard and Hollow Nanospheres as Visible-Light Photocatalysts

  1. Rongmei Liu1,2,3,
  2. Jingzhou Yin1,2,4,
  3. Wei Du1,2,
  4. Feng Gao1,
  5. Yongzhang Fan1,2,
  6. Qingyi Lu2

Article first published online: 7 JAN 2013

DOI: 10.1002/ejic.201200975

Issue

European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry

European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry

Volume 2013, Issue 8, pages 1358–1362, March 2013

Additional Information

How to Cite

Liu, R., Yin, J., Du, W., Gao, F., Fan, Y. and Lu, Q. (2013), Monodisperse CuO Hard and Hollow Nanospheres as Visible-Light Photocatalysts. Eur. J. Inorg. Chem., 2013: 1358–1362. doi: 10.1002/ejic.201200975

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China, http://eng.nju.edu.cn/index.php/en/facalty/79-2012-10-16-06-55-39

  2. 2

    State Key Laboratory of Coordination Chemistry, Coordination Chemistry Institute, Nanjing National Laboratory of Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, P. R. China, http://chem.nju.edu.cn/english/facultylr.asp?fln = LU,Qingyi

  3. 3

    College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Anhui Polytechnic University, Wuhu Anhui 241000, P. R. China

  4. 4

    School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai'an 223300, P. R. China

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 11 MAR 2013
  2. Article first published online: 7 JAN 2013
  3. Manuscript Received: 25 AUG 2012

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Keywords:

  • Nanostructures;
  • Nanoparticles;
  • Copper oxide;
  • Dyes;
  • Photochemistry;
  • Visible-light photocatalysis

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the synthesis of monodisperse CuO hard and hollow nanospheres with extraordinary visible-light photocatalytic abilities for dye photodegradation. The monodisperse CuO hard nanospheres were constructed with assistance from the water-soluble biopolymer sodium alginate (SA). In alkaline solution, the hard CuO spheres can be gradually corroded by ammonia to form hollow CuO nanospheres under hydrothermal conditions. Their visible-light photocatalytic activities were investigated and the results show that both of the hard and the hollow CuO spheres have great visible-light photocatalytic abilities for the photodegradation of dyes. In particular, CuO hollow nanospheres show extraordinary photodegradation activity towards Methyl blue (MB) and it only takes 1 min for 50 mg of CuO hollow spheres to photodegrade 100 mL of 50 mg L–1 MB solution by using solar light and without the assistance of any equipment while for 50 mg of P25 (TiO2), it takes more than 30 min even under UV irradiation. As promising energy-saving materials, CuO nanospheres would have great application potential in environment protection technology.

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