Synthesis and characterization of ZnTiO3 with high photocatalytic activity

Perovskite ZnTiO3 was prepared through a new method which contained a hydrothermal process for the preparation of titanate nanotubes and an ion-exchange process. The titanate nanotubes were inferred to be H2Ti3O7·3H2O. X-ray diffraction (XRD) result revealed the presence of cubic perovskite phase of ZnTiO3. The unique chain-like morphology of ZnTiO3 was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). UV–Vis diffusive reflection spectra of ZnTiO3 indicated that the absorbance obviously increased in the visible light region. The degradation rate of methyl orange solution (15 mg/L) reached 95.3% over ZnTiO3 (0.3 g/L) after 20 min xenon light irradiation, which was higher than that using the commercial catalyst P25 under the same reaction condition. The degradation kinetic results follow the first-order equation and the rate constant is 0.1020.