Fabrication and Shape Evolution of Petal-Like Cu2o Nanocrystal Toward Enhanced Photoactivity and Stability for Hydrogen Generation under Visible Light Irradiation

Controllable Cu2O nanocrystals with petal-like structure were successfully synthesized by the introduction of a concentrated ripening process into the methodology developed by the preparation of Cu2O nanocubes. The mechanism of shape evolution of petal-like Cu2O nanoflowers was proposed to reveal the concentrated ripening process as a novel strategy in the fabrication of special structured nanocrystals. Cu2O nanoflowers with petal-like structure exhibited enhanced activity and stability in hydrogen evolution compared with Cu2O naonocubes via the same route. The enhanced activity and stability of Cu2O nanoflowers was attributed to their unique petal-like sheet structure, which exhibited large BET surface area and pore volume. The results of cycle experiments also confirmed the enhanced stability of Cu2O nanoflower, which the H2 evolution rate of Cu2O nanoflower only decreased by 5.5% after the 4th cycles.