Synthesis and Characterizations of Nitrogen (N) Doped Strontium Titanate (SrTiO<sub>3</sub>) Nanoparticles for Enhanced Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Degradation
Qazi Inamur Rahman, Shumaila Hasan, Arif Ali, S.K. Mehta, Mohammad Asif Raja, Naseem Ahmad, Abdul Rahman Khan, Mohd. Muddassir
Abstract
Highly crystalline bare and N-doped SrTiO 3 nanoparticles were effectively synthesized with strontium acetate, titanium isopropoxide, hexamethylenetetramine as precursor via citric acid assisted hydrothermal process followed by calcination. The hydrothermally synthesized bare and N-doped SrTiO 3 NPs possessed monodispersity throughout with particle size diameter 50±5 nm but because of annealing at 750 °C temperature the synthesized NPs got agglomerate which created rough surface and induces oxygen vacancy in the NPs. Introducing N 3− ions impurity into SrTiO 3 lattice tailored the electronic band structure of SrTiO 3 and extends its absorption into the visible region. It would display the p-type conductivity and facilitate the photoinduced electron–hole pairs towards respective site which diminishes the chances of recombination of electron–hole pairs that enhances photocatalytic degradation reaction. The results showed MB degraded about ~88 in just 140 min and followed first order reaction kinetics with rate constant k = 0.01489 mint −1 .