Influence of synthesis procedures on the preparation of strontium titanate nanoparticles and photocatalytic application for methylene blue degradation

SrTiO3 is a well-known photocatalyst with various applications, such as antibacterial agents, self-cleaning surfaces, and water and air conditioning. With the increased environmental pollution, SrTiO3 is one of the most studied perovskite photocatalysts, exhibiting pronounced photocatalytic activity for removing chemical pollutants and water splitting. In the present work, pure Strontium titanate (ST) nanoparticles were successfully prepared using high-energy ball milling and Pechini techniques and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning and transmission electron microscopy, respectively. Structural parameters were evaluated by Rietveld refinement analysis from XRD data, which confirmed the cubic system of SrTiO3 with Pm-3 m space group. Scanning electron microscope results showed that ST1 samples consisted of agglomerated and irregular-shaped structures between 20 and 40 nm, and in ST2, the particles were round-shaped and had an average size of 150 nm. The obtained nanoparticles were used for photocatalytic methylene blue (MB) degradation, and synthesis methods' influence on catalytic activity was investigated. The photocatalytic studies examining the decoloration of MB dye reveal the function of smaller particles in increasing the rate of reactions. The degradation rate constant of MB on the ST1 (Pechini-synthesized sample) and ST2 (high energy ball milled sample) is 0.0145 and 0.0112 min(-1), respectively. The better photocatalytic activity of the ST1 demonstrated 93% degradation of dye under the solar light simulator. The photocatalytic reaction data provided well a first-order kinetic model. [GRAPHICS]