A situ hydrothermal synthesis of SrTiO3/TiO2 heterostructure nanosheets with exposed (0Â 0Â 1) facets for enhancing photocatalytic degradation activity

and constructing heterojunction structures based on (0 0 1) facets dominated anatase TiO2 has attracted much attention for acquiring higher photocatalytic activity. Here, SrTiO3/TiO2 heterostructure nanosheets with different SrTiO3 contents were fabricated by in situ hydrothermal reaction, in which anatase TiO2 nanosheets with dominant exposed (0 0 1) facets were used as templates and initial reactants. Compared with pure TiO2 nanosheets, SrTiO3/TiO2 nanosheets exhibit better photocatalytic activity in degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) owing to the formation of nano-nano heterojunction. More importantly, the SrTiO3/TiO2 composites exhibit excellent photocatalytic stability and outstanding catalytic activity with the increase of utilizing cycles. Particle size and morphology of SrTiO3 nanostructures were found to dominate the photocatalytic activity of SrTiO3/TiO2 composites through regulating the adhesion and aggregation of TiO2 nanosheets as well as the number of reaction active sites. It is the first time to fabricate SrTiO3/TiO2 heterojunction structure on limited two-dimensional nanosheets in situ, which is beneficial for understanding the growth of SrTiO3 from TiO2 in initial period. These results may further promote the applications of SrTiO3/TiO2 composites in environment cleanup, solar cells, sensors and photonic and optoelectronic devices.