Effects of morphologies on the photocatalytic properties of CaTiO₃ nano/microstructures

抄録

Without surfactants or templates, CaTiO₃ with various morphologies had been synthesized via a simple hydrothermal route. Effects of optical properties and photocatalytic activities of the CaTiO₃ nanostructures with various morphologies were investigated. The results found that the optical reflectance, absorption and photocatalytic properties of the samples were found to be significantly dependent on their morphologies. Three-dimensional CaTiO₃ butterfly–like structures with nanoflakes showed lower reflectance, more efficient light harvesting, higher surface area and higher photocatalytic activities compared with that of other dendrites and prism. It can be ascribed to the unique butterfly–like structure in which the interspace between ordered nanoflake units acts as a light–transfer path for introducing incident light into the inner surface of CaTiO_3. This allows UV light waves to penetrate deep inside the CaTiO₃. The nanoflake units also offer multiple reflective and scattering effects of UV light, preventing the incident waves from bouncing back to the free space. Due to microstructure with nanometer-scale unit, they are much easier to store and be separated from the solution as photocatalysts compared with traditional nanometer-scale powders, which might offer opportunities for fundamental study and industrial applications to explore CaTiO₃ nano-structure under effective morphology control.