Wet chemical epitaxial growth of a cactus-like CuFeO2/ZnO heterojunction for improved photocatalysis.

Herein, a wet chemical epitaxial growth method was employed to fabricate a cactus-like CuFeO2/ZnO heterojunction for the photocatalytic reduction of benzaldehyde to benzyl alcohol. The 1D ZnO nanorods in the heterojunction make contact with the 2D CuFeO2 nanoflakes at the atomic level, therefore providing a fast charge transfer channel along the direction parallel to the CuFeO2 c-axis, leading to efficient charge separation and improved photocatalytic performance.