Abstract In this study, spongy ball-like CuO and CuO/rGO photocatalysts were successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and further studied for photocatalytic hydrogen production activity. The CuO and CuO/rGO photocatalysts were analyzed by various structural, morphological, and optical characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies revealed that the CuO/rGO composite was formed without the presence of any secondary phase or impurities. The optical results demonstrated that the band gap lies in the visible range of the solar spectrum. The comparative study revealed that the CuO/rGO composite displays superior photocatalytic hydrogen production activity in comparison to CuO. Also, the CuO/rGO composite shows a hydrogen production rate of 19.2 mmol h−1 g−1 which was nearly 3 times higher than that of the CuO photocatalyst (6.8 mmol h−1 g−1).

中文翻译：

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还原氧化石墨烯修饰海绵球状氧化铜纳米结构以增强光催化制氢

摘要 本研究通过简单的水热法成功合成了海绵球状CuO和CuO/rGO光催化剂，并进一步研究了其光催化制氢活性。通过各种结构、形态和光学表征技术对 CuO 和 CuO/rGO 光催化剂进行了分析。X 射线衍射和拉曼光谱研究表明，CuO/rGO 复合材料是在不存在任何第二相或杂质的情况下形成的。光学结果表明带隙位于太阳光谱的可见范围内。比较研究表明，与 CuO 相比，CuO/rGO 复合材料显示出优异的光催化制氢活性。此外，CuO/rGO 复合材料的产氢率为 19。