Preparation and Characterization of TiO2 Nanowire - Cu2O Nanocube Composite Thin Film

Composite of TiO2 nanowire and Cu2O nanocube has been prepared. TiO2 nanowire with similar to 240 nm in thickness and 20 nm in length were synthesized by using liquid phase deposition (LPD) method at 50 degrees C for 4h on ITO substrate. The anatase phase of TiO2 nanowire was obtained by annealing the samples at 400 degrees C for 1h in air. The Cu2O nanocubes were prepared by the reduction of Cu2+ ions with ascorbic acid in the present of trisodium citrate and sodium dodecil sulfat (SDS) surfactant under an alkaline condition. The SDS addition was added with various concentrations namely 10 mM, 18 mM, and 26 mM during the Cu2O preparation for spin-coated onto TiO2 nanowire at 3000 rpm for 30s. An optical property of TiO2 Nanowire - Cu2O Nanocube has been characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The original TiO2 nanowire has single absorption peak at 318 nm, but it was shifted to 321 nm as Cu2O/SDS addition. A new peak at 440 nm was as the Cu2O nanocube absorption spectra. The Cu2O nanocube addition to the TiO2 nanostructure film caused increase in the optical absorption of the system in the region 400 - 800 nm. We also studied the absorption properties of the hybrid system when Cu2O nanocube preparation under SDS condition. It was that found the increase in the SDS concentration has caused the optical absorption of the hybrid in this region decreased. This is believed due to the decrease of Cu2O nanocube size as the SDS concentration increase. This could be due to change in the TiO2 nanowire-Cu2O nanocube hybrid-structure. This cooperate may find use in photoelectrochemical application.