Synthesis of CuO/Ti-MCM-48 Photocatalyst for the Degradation of Organic Pollutions Under Solar-Simulated Irradiation.

CuO loaded on siliceous MCM-48 (Mobil Composition of Matter No.48) containing spatially isolated titania species were prepared in this study. X-ray diffraction, N-physisorption, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were used to characterize these samples. Results from characterizations showed that the addition of CuO to Ti-MCM-48 could markedly improve the photocatalytic degradation properties of organic pollutions such as rhodamine B and tetracycline hydrochloride under solar-simulated irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of CuO/Ti-MCM-48 may be due to the formation of p-n heterojunctions between CuO and Ti-MCM-48, resulting in the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs and the enhanced absorption of visible light. According to the trapping experiment, a possible photocatalytic mechanism of CuO/Ti-MCM-48 composite for the degradation of organic pollutions was proposed. Graphical Abstract: The p-n hetero junctions between Ti-MCM-48 and CuO suppress the photogenerated electron-hole recombination and enhance absorption of visible light, thus improving the photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]