Controllable Synthesis of a Cu/Cu₂O Mott–Schottky Heterojunctioned Catalyst for Highly Efficient Ozone Decomposition

In recent years, researchers have spent much effort on the development of specific catalytic materials for ozone decomposition, yet investigation on its mechanism is still needed. In this work, a semiconductor metal oxide catalyst strengthened by the Mott–Schottky effect is prepared. In several synthesized Cu/Cu₂O samples, the scale of heterojunctions is adjusted during synthesis, and its influence is investigated by varieties of characterization techniques. In the catalytic test of ozone decomposition, ozone conversion reached 92% at a high weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 1,920,000 cm³ g^–1 h^–1, and compared with the control group without a heterojunction, it has obvious performance improvement. In this work, the application feasibility of the Mott–Schottky effect in the ozone decomposition field is researched from the version of the carrier transfer mechanism. This work proves that the Cu/Cu₂O heterojunctioned catalyst has great application prospects; meanwhile, it also provides a new idea for finding other suitable catalysts for ozone decomposition.