A General Synthetic Route to High‐Quality Perovskite Oxide Nanoparticles and Their Enhanced Solar Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

The main limitations of current methods for synthesizing perovskite oxide (ABO 3 ) nanoparticles (NPs), e.g., the high reagent costs and sophisticated equipment, the long time and high-temperature processing, or multiple post-processing and thermal treatment steps, hamper their full study and potential application.Here, we use a facile low temperature (50 °C) chemical bath synthesis and only one annealing step to successfully produce high phase purity and crystalline quality nano-shaped rare-earth-based REMO 3 NPs (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Gd; M = Fe, Mn, Al). We also show the versatility of this approach by fabricating La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 solid solution and non-RE-based BiFeO 3 perovskite. To assess the potential of the as-prepared REFeO 3 and REMnO 3 NPs, they are used for photocatalytic degradation of the norfloxacin antibiotic and show high efficiency. We believe this easy, robust, versatile, and general route for synthesizing ABO 3 -based NPs can be further explored in the vast perovskite family and beyond.

BiFeO3 Nanoparticles: The “Holy‐Grail” of Piezo‐Photocatalysts?

“…XRD pattern in (a): Reproduced with permission. [ 1 ] Copyright 2023, Wiley‐VCH. Inset TEM image in (a): Reproduced with permission.…”

“…Synthesis of BiFeO 3 Nanoparticles: BiFeO 3 NPs were synthesized from a chemical bath containing a stoichiometric amount of bismuth nitrate pentahydrate (Bi(NO 3 ) 3 .5H 2 O, 98% Alfa Aesar) and iron nitrate nonahydrate (Fe(NO 3 ) 3 •9H 2 O, 98-101% Alfa Aesar), as previously reported. [1,23] Ammonia was used as chelating agent for complexation with bismuth and ferrite nitrates. This mixture was then magnetically stirred for 2 h at 50 °C in oil bath, resulting in the precipitation of BFO NPs followed by annealing the as-obtained product at 500 °C for 2 h in air.…”

“…86-1518, corresponding to the perovskite structure of BFO with rhombohedral R3c symmetry. Rietveld refinement was used to determine the unit cell parameters that are found to be a = 5.580 Å, c = 13.877 Å, and V = 374.26 Å 3 , [23] values that are comparable to those of the bulk, suggesting the piezoelectric response should be conserved despite the nanosize of the BFO [1] Copyright 2023, Wiley-VCH. Inset TEM image in (a): Reproduced with permission.…”

“…Photocatalysis using the free, abundant, and inexhaustible solar source remains one of the most promising and energy saving processes, at minimum costs for converting sunlight energy into chemical energy in semiconductors. [1] However, challenges remain to improve the photochemical conversion efficiency and limit the recombination of photogenerated carriers during the catalytic process through doping, [2] heterojunction structure construction, [3] defect states, [4] and loading co-catalyst. [5] In recent years, ferroelectric materials have received considerable attention as photocatalysts because of their spontaneous polarization (that is switchable under the application of an external electric field).…”

“…a) XRD pattern of BFO nanoparticles and the inset images showing their corresponding TEM and high-resolution TEM images. XRD pattern in (a): Reproduced with permission [1]. Copyright 2023, Wiley-VCH.…”