Preparation of SrTiO3 by sol–gel techniques for the photoinduced production of H2 and surface peroxides from water

Abstract

A method of preparing SrTiO₃ by the citrate route and sol–gel freeze-drying technique is presented. These titanates have been produced at relatively low temperatures (550–600 °C) with surface areas up to 40 m² g^–1. The structure of the pure compounds obtained has been verified by X-ray diffraction. Increased photochemical activity to mediate H₂ generation is observed for these materials as compared with available commercial samples. The influence of the preparative conditions on the catalysed H evolution has been explored. The concomitant anodic reaction was found to be oxidation of water to surface-bound peroxide. Characterization by surface area measurements (B.E.T.), carbon analysis, X-ray diffraction, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (d.r.s.), conduction-band position measurements (c.b.) and electron microscopy (e.m.) have been carried out for the titanates under study.