Cu₂O Nanoparticle Hyper-Cross-Linked Polymer Composites for the Visible-Light Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange

To improve the activity and stability of Cu2O photocatalyst under visible light, a kind of hyper-cross-linked polymer, named as KAPs-B (Knitting Aromatic compound Polymers-Benzene) with high surface area and special benzene rings structure, was loaded on Cu2O to form a composite of KAPs-B/Cu2O by using the precipitation method for the first time. The activities of various KAPs-B/Cu2O composite photocatalysts with different loading amounts of KAPs-B were tested by methyl orange (MO) degradation. Compared to the bare Cu2O, significantly enhanced photocatalytic performances were found for the degradation of MO over KAPs-B/Cu2O under visible light. In particular, the 7% KAPs-B/Cu2O showed the highest photocatalytic performance, by which ∼92% of MO was decomposed within 60 min. Also, it showed an excellent reusability. It is found that the loading of KAPs-B on Cu2O can not only effectively enhance the adsorption of organic matter on the catalyst ascribed to its high surface area and meanwhile stabilize the Cu2O in oxidizing environments but also enhance the separation rate of the photoinduced electron–hole pairs, leading to the photocatalytic activity and stability enhancement. These results indicate that it is a feasible method to improve the visible light photocatalytic performance of Cu2O by compositing with the hyper-cross-linked polymer.