Hydrothermal/electrospinning synthesis of CuO plate-like particles/TiO2 fibers heterostructures for high-efficiency photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes and phenolic pollutants

CuO–TiO2 p-n heterostructures with tailored compositions were fabricated using hydrothermally derived plate-like CuO particles and electrospun TiO2 fibers and further applied for photocatalytic degradation of typical water pollutants such as methylene blue and 4-Nitrophenol. Effect of varying amount of CuO decoration on TiO2 fibers on microstructure, on phase constitution, and on the optical and photocatalytic properties was investigated. Photocatalytic testing results indicated that the degradation behavior was affected by the amount of CuO particles in the samples. Among all compositions studied, the samples with 1.25 and 0.5 wt% CuO exhibited the highest photocatalytic efficiency under UV (3.3 times higher compared to pure TiO2) and visible light irradiations (3.75 times higher compared to pure TiO2), respectively. The improved photocatalytic performance compared to pure fibers was attributed to particle-fiber architecture, increased and extended light harvesting ability, more efficient charge separation due to staggered band structure and p-n junctions of the heterostructured samples. •CuO plate-like particles/TiO2 fibers heterostructured photocatalyst was fabricated.•Methylene blue and 4-Nitrophenol degradation was compared for UV and visible light irradiations.•The maximum CuO content (0.50 wt% for visible light), well below the amount used in literature.•Degradation mechanism on CuO–TiO2 was investigated and revealed in detail.