Facile one-step synthesis of PhC₂Cu nanowires with enhanced photocatalytic performance

In recent years, the research of phenylethynylcopper (PhC₂Cu) in photocatalysis has attracted immense attention. However, its synthesis requires two steps extending over 9 days. In this paper, the successful preparation of PhC₂Cu nanowires is reported using a highly rapid and facile one-step method directly using copper acetate and phenylacetylene as raw materials and ascorbic acid as reducing agent. The kinetic studies indicated that the synthetic reaction follows a pseudo-second-order equation through electrical conductivity. Comparative studies of the crystal structures, morphologies, and optical properties of PhC₂Cu prepared by the traditional two-step and the current one-step methods were conducted using XRD, SEM, UV-Vis Drs, FT-IR, Raman spectra, and photocurrent. Meanwhile, the PhC₂Cu nanowires exhibited excellent photocatalytic activity to degrade methyl violet (MV) and glyphosate. This facile and rapid method dramatically improves the preparation efficiency of PhC₂Cu, and the obtained PhC₂Cu also shows higher photocatalytic activity. This remarkable progress enables the possibility of large-scale and efficient preparation of PhC₂Cu with high photocatalytic activity, indicating their excellent application prospect in photocatalysis.