The Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance of Pr Doped Cu2O Under Visible Light

Abstract

AbstractCuprous oxide (Cu2O) has a narrow band gap of 2.1–2.3 eV, which facilitates the absorption of visible light and the photocatalytic removal of pollutants from water. However, the catalytic efficiency of Cu2O has been affected by the rapidly compounding carriers in the photocatalytic process. In order to achieve adequate separation of the photogenerated carriers, a straightforward liquid‐phase reduction technique was used in this study to successfully obtain praseodymium‐doped cuprous oxide Pr : Cu2O (0, 1, 3, and 5 mol %). Praseodymium ions were successfully doped into the Cu2O lattice interstitial, as demonstrated by XRD and SEM studies, and the doped praseodymium ions decreased the crystallite size. The FT‐IR peak also confirmed the existence of Cu2O at 631 cm−1. With the increase of Pr doping to 3 %, the band gap gradually decreased to 2.12 eV. Experiments on the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation showed that 3 % Pr : Cu2O photocatalyst showed the best photocatalytic performance. The Pr doping reduced the recombination of photogenerated electron‐hole pairs and enhanced the photocatalytic activity of Cu2O, according to the analysis results of PL, EIS and transient photocurrent response. Combining these results with active radical capture experiments, the functioning mechanism of the Pr : Cu2O photocatalyst was examined.