A facile and green route was proposed for the synthesis of bi-component copper oxide composite without any templates and additives. The effects of D-(+)-glucose amount, reaction temperature, and reaction time on the morphology and constitution of the products were investigated by SEM, X-ray diffraction, and UV-vis DRS in detail. The results indicate that a series of Cu2O–CuO bi-component copper oxide composites with various morphologies can be easily obtained. Structure characterisation and photocatalytic tests show that the bi-component Cu2O–CuO composites exhibited better photodecolouration of methylene blue than those of the Cu2O, CuO, and Cu–CuO compounds owing to the existence of the synergistic effect between the CuO and Cu2O.
GaoH, ZhangJY and WangM: ‘Controllable growth and photocatalytic activity of Cu2O solid microspher’, Mater. Res. Bull., 2013, 48, 3431–3437.
2.
ZhangL, CuiZM, WuQ, GuoD, XuY and GuoL: ‘Cu2O–CuO composite microframes with well-designed micro/nano structures fabricated via controllable etching of Cu2O microcubes for CO gas sensors’, Cryst. Eng. Commun., 2013, 15, 7462–7467.
3.
YuHG, YuGJ, LiuSW and MannS: ‘Template-free hydrothermal synthesis of CuO/Cu2O composite hollow microspheres’, Chem. Mater., 2007, 19, 4327–4334.
4.
HuangWC, LyuLM, YangYC and HuangMH: ‘Synthesis of Cu2O nanocrystals from cubic to rhombic dodecahedral structures and their comparative photocatalytic activity’, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 134, 1261–1267.
5.
ShangY, SunD, ShaoYM, ZhangDF, GuoL and YangSH: ‘A facile top-down etching To create a Cu2O jagged polyhedron covered with numerous {110} edges and {111} corners with enhanced photocatalytic activity’, Chem. Eur. J., 2012, 18, 14261–4266.
6.
ZhangY, DengB, ZhangTR, GaoDM and XuAW: ‘Shape effects of Cu2O polyhedral microcrystals on photocatalytic activity’, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 114C, 5073–5079.
7.
ZhangH, ZhuQ, ZhangY, WangY, ZhaoL and YuB: ‘One-pot synthesis and hierarchical assembly of hollow Cu2O microspheres with nanocrystals-composed porous multishell and their gas-sensing properties’, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2007, 17, 2766–2771.
8.
WangSL, XuH, QianLQ, JiaX, WangJW, LiuYY and TangWH: ‘CTAB-assisted synthesis and photocatalytic property of CuO hollow microspheres’, J. Solid. State. Chem., 2009, 182, 1088–1093.
9.
ZhouWW, ChengCW, LiuJP, TayYY, JiangJ, JiaXT, ZhangJX, GongH, HngHH, YuT and FanHJ: ‘Epitaxial growth of branched α-Fe2O3/SnO2 nano-heterostructures with improved lithium-ion battery performance’, Adv. Funct. Mater., 2007, 21, 2439–2445.
10.
CaoTP, LiYJ, WangCH, ShaoCL and LiuYC: ‘A facile in situ hydrothermal method to SrTiO3/TiO2 nanofiber heterostructures with high photocatalytic activity’, Langmuir, 2011, 27, 2946–2952.
11.
LiMX, YinYX, LiCJ, ZhangFZ, WanLJ, XuSL and EvansDG: ‘Well-dispersed bi-component-active CoO/CoFe2O4 nanocomposites with tunable performances as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries’, Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 410–412.
12.
OkuT, TakedaA, NagataA, KidowakiH, KumadaK, FujimotoK, SuzukiA, AkiyamaT, YamasakiY and OsawaE: ‘Microstructures and photovoltaic properties of C60 based solar cells with copper oxides, CuInS2, phthalocyanines, porphyrin, PVK, nanodiamond, germanium and exciton diffusion blocking layers’, Mater. Technol., 2013, 28, (1/2), 21–39.
13.
HossainMI and AlharbiFH: ‘Recent advances in alternative material photovoltaics’, Mater. Technol., 2013, 28, (1/2), 88–97.
14.
GhadimkhaniG, TacconideNR, ChanmaneeW, JanakyC and RajeshwarK: ‘Efficient solar photoelectrosynthesis of methanol from carbon dioxide using hybrid CuO–Cu2O semiconductor nanorod arrays’, Chem. Commun., 2013, 49, 1297–1299.
15.
HuL, HuangYM, ZhangFP and ChenQW: ‘CuO/Cu2O composite hollow polyhedrons fabricated from metal–organic framework templates for lithium-ion battery anodes with a long cycling life’, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 4186–4190.
16.
XiaBH, HeF and LiLD: ‘Preparation of bimetallic nanoparticles using a facile green synthesis method and their application’, Langmuir, 2013, 29, (15), 4901–4907.
17.
IliutM, LeordeanC, CanpeanV, TeodorescuCM and AstileanS: ‘A new green, ascorbic acid-assisted method for versatile synthesis of Au–graphene hybrids as efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering platforms’, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2013, 1C, 4094–4104.
18.
XiaYN, XiongYJ, LimBK and SkrabalakSE: ‘Shape-controlled synthesis of metal nanocrystals: simple chemistry meets complex physics?’, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 2–46.
19.
GutiérrezaOY, PérezaF, FuentesbGA, BokhimicX and KlimovaT: ‘Deep HDS over NiMo/Zr-SBA-15 catalysts with varying MoO3 loading’, Catal. Today, 2008, 130, 292–301.
