Submitted:
17 May 2026
Posted:
19 May 2026
You are already at the latest version
Abstract
Formaldehyde (HCHO), a prevalent indoor air pollutant released from furniture and building materials, poses significant health risks due to its carcinogenic nature. In this study, a binary cuprous oxide–titanium dioxide (Cu₂O–TiO₂) composite photocatalyst was synthesized via a hydrothermal method to enable efficient visible-light-driven degradation of gaseous formaldehyde at ambient temperature. The structural, mor-phological, and optical properties of the as-prepared catalysts were characterized us-ing XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. While pristine Cu₂O exhibited a formaldehyde degradation efficiency of approximately 68% under white light illumi-nation, the incorporation of TiO₂ markedly enhanced the photocatalytic performance. Among the different mass ratios tested, the Cu₂O–TiO₂ (1:1) composite demonstrated the highest activity, achieving 83% degradation of formaldehyde within 240 minutes under white light. Enhanced performance is attributed to the formation of a hetero-junction that reduces the effective bandgap, promotes charge separation, and sup-presses electron–hole recombination. Additionally, the generation of carbon dioxide and water as end products confirmed complete mineralization. The catalyst also showed good reusability, retaining over 81% efficiency after five cycles. This work presents a cost-effective, stable, and visible-light-active Cu₂O–TiO₂ heterojunction photocatalyst with strong potential for indoor air purification applications.
