Photo catalytic property of Pt-CuO nanostructure films prepared by wet-chemical route and photochemical deposition method

Platinum deposited CuO nanostructure films were synthesized using the wet-chemical route and photochemical deposition methods. CuO nanostructure films were grown on copper foil as substrate via a simple cost-effective wet-chemical route and used as templates for making Pt-deposited CuO samples. Platinum were deposited over the surfaces of CuO nanostructure films through a photochemical deposition process. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDX analyses. SEM images showed formation of film containing different nano structures. The photo catalytic activity of samples was evaluated by monitoring the photo-degradation of methyl orange under visible-light irradiation. Platinum-deposited CuO (PtCuO) samples exhibit much higher visible-light-driven photo catalytic activities and the photo-stability improved significantly. Results demonstrated that the rate of degradation of the platinum-deposited CuO sample was more than 3.8 times faster than that of pure CuO nanostructures. The PtCuO catalysts prepared in this study exhibit industrially relevant interests due to the low cost, high photo catalytic activity and high stability.