The Cu2S/tetrapod-like ZnO whisker（T-ZnOw） heterostructures were successfully synthesized via a simple polyol process employing the poly（vinyl pyrrolidone）（PVP） as a surfactant.The as-prepared heterostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction（XRD）,field emission scanning electron microscopy（FESEM）,X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） and Fourier transform infrared（FTIR）.The photocatalytic properties of Cu2S/T-ZnOw nanocomposites synthesized with different PVP concentrations were evaluated by photodegradation of methyl orange（MO） under UV irradiation.The results show that the Cu2S/T-ZnOw nanocomposites exhibit remarkable improved photocatalytic property compared with the pure T-ZnOw.The sample prepared with 3.0 g/L PVP shows an excellent photocatalytic property and the highest photodegradation rate of MO is 97% after UV irradiation for 120 min.Besides,the photocatalytic activity of the photocatalyst has no evident decrease even after four cycles,which demonstrates that the Cu2S/T-ZnOw photocatalyst exhibits an excellent photostability.Moreover,the photocatalytic mechanism of the Cu2S/T-ZnOw nanocomposites was also discussed.
