Synthesis and characterization of ZnTiO3 with high photocatalytic activity

Perovskite ZnTiO3 was prepared through a new method which contained a hydrothermal process for the preparation of titanate nanotubes and an ion-exchange process. The titanate nanotubes were inferred to be H2Ti3O7 center dot 3H(2)O. X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed the presence of cubic perovskite phase of ZnTiO3. The unique chain-like morphology of ZnTiO3 was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). UV-Vis diffusive reflection spectra of ZnTiO3 indicated that the absorbance obviously increased in the visible light region. The degradation rate of methyl orange solution (15 mg/L) reached 95.3% over ZnTiO3 (0.3 g/L) after 20 min xenon light irradiation, which was higher than that using the commercial catalyst P25 under the same reaction condition. The degradation kinetic results follow the first-order equation and the rate constant is 0.1020.