Synthesis and Characterization of TiO???/CuS Nanocomposite Fibers as a Visible Light-Driven Photocatalyst

TiO???/CuS nanocomposites were fabricated by precipitation of nanosized CuS via sonochemical method on electrospun TiO??? nanofibers, and their structure, chemical bonding states, optical properties, and photocatalytic activity were investigated. In the TiO???/CuS nanocomposite, the position of the conduction band for CuS was at a more negative than that of TiO; meanwhile, the position of the valence band for CuS was more positive than those for TiO, indicating a heterojunction structure belonging to type-II band alignment. Photocatalytic activity, measured by decomposition of methylene blue under visible-light irradiation (λ ??? 400 ???) for the TiO???/CuS nanocomposite, showed a value of 85.94% at 653 ???, which represented an improvement of 52% compared to that for single TiO??? nanofiber (44.97% at 653 ???). Consequently, the photocatalyst with TiO???/CuS nanocomposite had excellent photocatalytic activity for methylene blue under visible-light irradiation, which could be explained by the formation of a heterojunction structure and improvement of the surface reaction by increase in surface area