Solvothermal synthesis nitrogen doped SrTiO3 with high visible light photocatalytic activity

Nitrogen (N)-doped SrTiO3 (SrTiO3-xNy) photocatalysts were synthesized by a solvothermal method using Sr(NO3)(2)center dot 4H(2)O and Ti(OC3H7)(4) as starting materials in KOH solution, hexamethylenetetramine as a source of nitrogen. The physicochemical properties of the photocatalysts were analyzed by Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). The photocatalytic activity of the SrTiO3-xNy was evaluated by degrading methyl orange (MO) dye under a mercury lamp xenon lamp irradiation, respectively. The results proved that the N doping amount had an important effect on the photocatalytic activity of the catalysts. The pH effects on the photocatalytic degradation were also investigated. The prepared SrTiO3-xNy photocatalyst showed excellent photocatalytic activity for the decomposition of MO under visible-light irradiation, being superior to that of pure SrTiO3 or commercial TiO2 (P25) powders. After five cycles, the photocatalytic activity of the SrTiO3-xNy showed no significant decrease, which indicated that the photocatalysts were stable under visible light irradiation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.