Heterostructure Cu2O/(001)TiO2 Effected on Photocatalytic Degradation of Ammonia of Livestock Houses

Abstract

In this paper, a heterogeneous composite catalyst Cu2O/(001)TiO2 was prepared by the impregnation-reduction method. The crystal form, highly active facet content, morphology, optical properties, and the photogenerated electron-hole recombination rate of the as-prepared catalysts were investigated. The performance of Cu2O/(001)TiO2 was appraised by photocatalytic degradation of ammonia under sunlight and was compared with lone P25, Cu2O, and (001)TiO2 at the same reaction conditions. The results showed that 80% of the ammonia concentration (120 ± 3 ppm) was removed by Cu2O/(001)TiO2, which was a higher degradation rate than that of pure P25 (12%), Cu2O (12%), and (001)TiO2 (15%) during 120 min of reaction time. The reason may be due to the compound’s (Cu2O/(001)TiO2) highly active (001) facets content that increased by 8.2% and the band gap width decreasing by 1.02 eV. It was also found that the air flow impacts the photocatalytic degradation of ammonia. Therefore, learning how to maintain the degradation effect of Cu2O/(001)TiO2 with ammonia will be important in future practical applications.