In-situ Synthesis of Perovskite SrTiO3 Nanostructures with Modified Morphology and Tunable Optical Absorption Property

As a perovskite family member, SrTiO3 shows significant applications in the fields of solar cells, photo-catalysis, fuel cells and superconducting as a dependence of its crystallinity, morphology, crystal facet and optical properties. In this work, we reported an in-situ synthetic approach of SrTiO3 nanostructures with modified morphology and tunable optical absorption properties based on conventional plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) associated with hydrothermal method. The morphology of SrTiO3 nanostructures can be selectively modified from microcubes with smooth facets to ultrathin nanosheets by controlling the concentration of Sr source during PEO process. It is found that both SrTiO3 microcubes and Sr1-delta TiO3 nanosheets are well-crystallized single crystals. UV-Vis diffuse reactance spectrum (DRS) measurement reveals that Sr1-delta TiO3 nanosheets with thin thickness show obvious blue-shift of absorption edge in comparison with SrTiO3 microcubes due to the size effect. Finally, the morphology evolution and nucleation mechanism of SrTiO3 nanostructures in-situ grown on PEO film is discussed.