Two Studies Photocatalytic Properties Of Titanium Oxide Copper Surface Plasmon Effect Increases

Photocatalytic TiO2nanotube arrays (TiO2NTs) and TiO2nanosheet film (TiO2NFF) were prepared by anodic oxidation method and hydrothermal method respectively, then Cu nanoparticles (NPs) was loaded on the surface of TiO2NTs and TiO2NFF under microwave-assisted chemical reduction to obtain Cu NPs loaded TiO2NTs (Cu/TiO2NTs) and Cu NPs loaded TiO2NFF (Cu/TiO2NFF) photocatalysts. They are employed to photocatalytic water splitting to produce hydrogen. The influence factors on the performance of catalyst were studied based on the structural characterization and photocatalytic activity evaluation. The modification mechanism of surface plasma resonance of Cu NPs enhanced TiO2photocatalysis was investigated in detail.The morphology, crystalline structure, elemental composition and spectroscopy properties of the prepared samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS), UV-vis absorption spectrum (UV-vis), photoluminescence spectrum (PL) and Raman scattering spectrum, respectively. Results revealed that TiO2NTs prepared by anodic oxidation method was in good order and uniform arranged with a diameter about150nm, and the wall thickness was25nm and the length was about30μm. TiO2NFF prepared by hydrothermal method exhibited nanosheet structure, and the nanosheet with a thickness about50nm pushed to form nanoflower with an epitaxial layer filamentous structure. Cu NPs was well dispersed on anatase TiO2NTs and TiO2NFF surface, it can effectively restrain the recombination of photogenerated electrons and holes, leading to a lower PL intensity than that of pure TiO2. Besides, the visible light absorption and Raman scattering of TiO2were enhanced by Cu NPs based on its surface plasmon resonance effect, and the absorption peak around580nm was observed. Photocatalytic water splitting was conducted on the films to obtain hydrogen, experimental results indicated that plasmonic Cu NPs can greatly enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2, and Cu/TiO2NTs and Cu/TiO2NFF exhibited the better activity, the hydrogen production rate was1.82and2.32times higher than that of pure TiO2film respectively.The investigation on the mechanism of surface plasma resonance of Cu NPs enhanced TiO2photocatalysis showed that the electron transfer properties of Cu species and the surface plasmon resonance of Cu NPs made a good photocatalytic performance of TiO2photocatalyst.