抄録
Recently, we have found that Cu2O powder suspended in distilled water by stirring decompose water catalytically into H2 and O2 under visible light irradiation. To our surprise, the experiment revealed that the catalytic decomposion of water by Cu2O is due to the mechanical energy produced in to stirring and the reaction under stirring was enhanced by the irradiation of visible light having photon energies more than the band gap energy of Cu2O(2 eV). The reaction is regarded as “mechano-catalytic overall splitting”; and is distinct from conventional photocatalytic water decomposition.
