Mechanism insight into twin-dependent photocatalysis in near-infrared light-responsive Cu2O nanocrystals with rich oxygen vacancies
Xiaochuan Zhang, Shaodong Sun, Haotian Wang, Jieli Lyu, Xiaojing Yu, Bian Yang, Man Yang, Zongfan Duan, Qing Yang, Jie Cui
Abstract
Simultaneous integration of rich oxygen vacancies (OVs) and twin crystals in a photocatalyst can not only significantly enhance the near-infrared (NIR) light response but also greatly improve the photocharge separation and transfer efficiency owing to the induced high electrical conductivity and strong built-in electric field. However, thus far, there has been a lack of a model catalyst containing both twin crystals and OVs. Herein, we develop a simple wet chemical strategy for synthesizing of unprecedented NIR light-responsive OVs-rich Cu2O black nanoparticles with high-density of twin crystals (denoted as black twinned Cu2O). As expected, the black twinned Cu2O exhibits higher visible-NIR and NIR light-driven photodegradation of tetracycline (TC) solution than the counterparts. Significantly, the mechanism insight into twin-dependent photocatalysis in NIR light-responsive Cu2O black nanocrystals with rich OVs is uncovered in depth by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and a series of experimental evidence. Expectantly, this work would be beneficial for the scientific researchers currently focusing on the NIR light-responsive photocatalysis and twin engineering of photocatalysts.