Solvothermal preparation of hydrangea-like CuBi2O4 twining TiO2 NTAs with enhanced photoelectrocatalytic dye degradation and hydrogen generation

Ternary oxide semiconductor could effectively adjust the energy band gap and location by changing the elemental ratio, which remarkably benefits the electron transfer and photoelectrocatalytic H2 generation. In this paper, hydrangea-like CuBi2O4 sensitizers were prepared on TiO2 nanotube arrays (TiO2 NTAs) by one-pot solvothermal deposition. The alkali kind showed vital influences on the microstructure and photoelectrocatalytic performance of CuBi2O4/TiO2 NTAs, and the excellent pollutant remediation, photoelectric conversion and photoelectrocatalytic water splitting were achieved by the sample prepared by C6H12N4. Under visible light irradiation, the optimized sample displayed the higher photoelectrocatalytic H2 generation rate (87.42 μmol·cm−2·h−1) than that of samples prepared using other alkali kinds. Moreover, the CuBi2O4/TiO2 NTAs also exhibited high organic dye and Cr(VI) removal performance, and the outstanding photoelectrocatalytic activity indicates the novel strategy for the construction of CuBi2O4/TiO2 NTAs photocatalyst for H2 generation by effective photocatalytic water splitting.