title: Post-illumination activity of SnO2 nanoparticle-decorated Cu2O nanocubes by H2O2 production in dark from photocatalytic "memory".
abstract: Most photocatalysts only function under illumination, while many potential applications require continuous activities in dark. Thus, novel photocatalysts should be developed, which could store part of their photoactivity in "memory" under illumination and then be active from this "memory" after the illumination is turned off for an extended period of time. Here a novel composite photocatalyst of SnO2 nanoparticle-decorated Cu2O nanocubes is developed. Their large conduction band potential difference and the inner electrostatic field formed in the p-n heterojunction provide a strong driving force for photogenerated electrons to move from Cu2O to SnO2 under visible light illumination, which could then be released to react with O2 in dark to produce H2O2 for its post-illumination activity. This work demonstrates that the selection of decoration components for photocatalysts with the post-illumination photocatalytic "memory" could be largely expanded to semiconductors with conduction band potentials less positive than the two-electron reduction potential of O2.
authors.affiliation: Environment Functional Materials Division, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Lingmei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Environment Functional Materials Division, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wuzhu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Environment Functional Materials Division, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Weiyi
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Environment Functional Materials Division, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
authors.forename: Jian Ku
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Shang