Revealing the Intrinsic Nature of the Synergistic Effect Caused by the Formation of Heterojunctions in Cu-Cu2O/rGO-NH2 Nanomaterials in the Catalysis of Selective Aerobic Oxidation of Benzyl Alcohol

Ternary nanomaterials Cu-Cu2O/rGO-NH2 (rGO = reduced graphene oxide) exhibited a synergistic effect in the quantitative catalysis of selective aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol. The synergistic effect is attributed to the heterojunctions among the three components and in intrinsic nature, the formation of the heterojunctions lowered the conduction band (CB) energy level and raised the valence band (VB) energy level of the main catalyst Cu2O, which eases electron transfer from the catalyst to O-2 in its activation and from the substrate to the catalyst in the oxidation, respectively.