Preparation and Characterization of TiO2 Nanowire - Cu2O Nanocube Composite Thin Film

Composite of TiO₂ nanowire and Cu₂O nanocube has been prepared. TiO₂ nanowire with ~240nm in thickness and 20 nm in length were synthesized by using liquid phase deposition(LPD) method at 50^oC for 4h on ITO substrate. The anatase phase of TiO₂ nanowire was obtained by annealing the samples at 400^oC for 1hin air. The Cu₂O nanocubes were prepared by the reduction of Cu²⁺ions with ascorbic acid in the present of trisodium citrate and sodium dodecilsulfat (SDS) surfactant under an alkaline condition. The SDS addition was added with various concentrations namely 10 mM, 18 mM, and 26 mM during the Cu₂O preparation for spin-coated onto TiO₂ nanowire at 3000 rpm for 30s. An optical property of TiO₂ Nanowire - Cu₂O Nanocube has been characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy.The original TiO₂ nanowire has single absorption peak at 318 nm, but it was shifted to 321 nm as Cu₂O/SDS addition. A new peak at 440 nm was as the Cu₂O nanocube absorption spectra. The Cu₂O nanocube addition to the TiO₂ nanostructure film caused increase in the optical absorption of the system in the region 400 – 800 nm. We also studied the absorption properties of the hybrid system when Cu₂O nanocube preparation under SDS condition. It was that found the increase in the SDS concentration has caused the optical absorption of the hybrid in this region decreased. This is believed due to the decrease of Cu₂O nanocube size as the SDS concentration increase. This could be due to change in the TiO₂ nanowire-Cu₂O nanocube hybrid-structure. This cooperate may find use in photoelectrochemical application.