Abstract
This research was designed to improve the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers in TiO(2) through the construction of a PN heterojunction. The motivation behind this was to tackle the problems of the narrow light response range and the high electron-hole recombination rate of TiO(2). By simple one-step implementing electrospinning and calcination procedures, CuO/TiO(2) PN heterojunction nanofibers were successfully synthesized. XRD and SEM analyses confirm that the heterojunction is a nanofiber structure composed of TiO(2) and CuO, with the TiO(2) containing anatase and rutile phases. The PL reveals that the fluorescence intensity of the heterojunction is lower compared to that of pure TiO(2), and this implies a remarkable enhancement in the carrier separation efficiency. Under xenon light irradiation, for the optimized sample, the degradation rate of RhB exceeds 80%. This degradation rate is 68% higher than that of pure TiO(2). The improvement in photocatalytic performance can be ascribed to the efficient charge separation driven by the built-in electric field within the PN junction and the extended light absorption range. The photoelectrochemical test further verified that the photocurrent density of the heterojunction system was 52.42% higher than that of the single TiO(2), providing a new strategy for designing efficient photocatalytic systems.