Investigation on SrTiO3 nanoparticles as a photocatalyst for enhanced photocatalytic activity and photovoltaic applications

The present work explores the effect of annealing temperature on the photocatalytic activity and power conservation efficiency (PCE) of the strontium titanate (SrTiO3) nanoparticles. Various analytical tools are used to examine the crystalline structure, shape, size, bandgap, and emission characteristics of the synthesized SrTiO3. XRD results show that the crystallite size increased with increasing annealing temperature, which impacts the decrease of dislocation density and lattice strain. The fine agglomerated nanosphere morphologies and the elements presented in the sample are explored by SEM and EDX analysis along with mapping. TEM results also reveals spherical morphology with the inter-planer distance of 0.27 nm. Chemical valance states are confirmed with the XPS analysis. BET analysis reveals that STO6 possess Specific Surface Area of 20.971 m(2)g(-1).TGA confirms that the prepared material is stable up to 1000 degrees C. The methylene blue degradation result reveals that when increasing the annealing temperature, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency has increased. Among them, the STO6 sample is achieved the highest degradation efficiency of 36% at 120 min of irradiation which is 63% higher than the STO1 sample. The reusability of STO6 has been tested for three cycles and its structural stability also studied using XRD. Besides, the samples are served as a photoanode for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) and the results show that the STO6 cell delivered the highest short circuit current (J(SC)) of 3.36 mA cm(-2), the open-circuit voltage (V-OC) of 0.63 V, and an efficiency (eta) of 1.12%. According to the findings, the SrTiO3 annealing temperature is also a crucial influence in determining photocatalytic activity and DSSC performance.