Issue 32, 2017

Facile synthesis of porous La–Ti–O and LaTiO2N microspheres

Abstract

Photocatalysts offer an excellent opportunity to shift the global energy landscape from a fossil fuel-dependent paradigm to sustainable and carbon-neutral solar fuels. Oxynitride materials such as LaTiO2N are potential photocatalysts for the water splitting reaction due to their high oxidative stability and their narrow band gaps, which are suitable for visible light absorption. However, facile synthetic routes to metal oxynitrides with controlled morphologies are rare. Ultrasonic spray synthesis (USS) offers a facile method toward complex metal oxides which can potentially be converted to oxynitrides with preservation of the microsphere structures that typify the products from such aerosol routes. Here, La–Ti–O microspheres were facilely produced by USS and converted by ammonolysis to LaTiO2N microspheres with porous shells and hollow interiors. This particle architecture is accounted for by coupling suitable combustion chemistry with the aerosol technique, producing precursor particles where the La3+ and Ti4+ are well-mixed at small length scales; this feature enables preservation of the microsphere morphology during nitridation despite the crystallographic changes that occur. The LaTiO2N microspheres are comparable oxygen evolving photocatalysts to samples produced by conventional solid state methods. These results demonstrate the utility of USS as a facile, potentially scalable route to complex photocatalytic materials and their precursors with distinct morphologies.

Graphical abstract: Facile synthesis of porous La–Ti–O and LaTiO2N microspheres

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
31 Mac 2017
Accepted
28 Jun 2017
First published
06 Jul 2017

Dalton Trans., 2017,46, 10727-10733

Facile synthesis of porous La–Ti–O and LaTiO2N microspheres

E. E. Rugen, K. M. Koczkur and S. E. Skrabalak, Dalton Trans., 2017, 46, 10727 DOI: 10.1039/C7DT01165B

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