Controlled preparation of Ag–Cu2O nanocorncobs and their enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light

Abstract Novel corncob-like nano-heterostructured Ag–Cu2O photocatalyst has been controllably prepared by adjusting the synthetic parameters, and the possible formation mechanism has been also studied. The photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic performances demonstrated that the as-prepared Ag–Cu2O nanocorncobs exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than both pure Cu2O nanowires and cable-like Ag@Cu2O nano-composites. It was concluded that Ag–Cu2O nanocorncobs with suitably exposed Ag surface not only effectively inhibit the recombination of electron–hole pairs but also suitably increase the active sites of electronic conduction, and thus increasing the photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation.