Hierarchical SrTiO₃/NiFe₂O₄ composite nanostructures with excellent light response and magnetic performance synthesized toward enhanced photocatalytic activity

Abstract

Being capable of gathering advanced optical, electrical and magnetic properties originating from different components, multifunctional composite nanomaterials have been of concern increasingly. Herein, we have successfully demonstrated the preparation of SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 porous nanotubes (PNTs) and SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 particle-in-tubes (PITs) via a single-spinneret electrospinning and a side-by-side-spinneret electrospinning, respectively. The products were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectra and a vibrating sample magnetometer in detail. The results indicate that SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 PNTs are the heterojunction nanotubes by connecting perovskite SrTiO3 and spinel NiFe2O4 nanoparticles, but SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 PITs are the self-assembled core/shell structures by embedding SrTiO3 nanoparticles into NiFe2O4 nanotubes. Compared with pure SrTiO3 nanofibers, the two SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 composites exhibit a powerful light response and excellent room temperature ferromagnetism. The magnetic separations directly reveal that such amazing recycling efficiencies of about 95% for SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 PNTs and about 99.5% for SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 PITs are obtained. Furthermore, both the magnetic composites perform considerable photocatalytic activity in the degradation of rhodamine B. We propose that Kirkendall-diffusion and phase-separation are probably responsible for the formation of SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 PITs, and this work could provide a feasible way to assemble the core/shell structures of different materials.

Enhancing Charge Separation and Photocatalytic Activity of Cubic SrTiO3 with Perovskite‐Type Materials MTaO3 (M=Na, K) for Environmental Remediation: A First‐Principles Study

“…The enhancement in a type‐II system is due to the built‐in potential originating from the band bending at the interface. Some heterostructures of SrTiO 3 , such as NiFe 2 O 4 , TiO 2 , Fe 3 O 4 , CoO, g‐C 3 N 4 , SrCO 3 , BiVO 4 , Bi 2 O 3 , Cu 2 O, CeO 2 , and Ag 3 PO 4 have been reported with improved photocatalytic pollutant degradation and water splitting performance.…”

Efficient Synthesis of PVDF/PI Side-by-Side Bicomponent Nanofiber Membrane with Enhanced Mechanical Strength and Good Thermal Stability

“…In fact, the study of side-by-side electrospinning started relatively late, and there were not many reports about it until 2003, when Gupta and Wilkes [22] creatively prepared polyvinyl chloride/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVC/PVDF) and polyvinyl chloride/segmented polyurethane (PVC/Estane) bicomponent fibers for the first time using a parallel spinneret, which solved the problem of difficulty in blending two solutions to obtain a bicomponent fiber through co-electrospinning. From then on, research on the side-by-side electrospinning technology had been carried out mainly from the following two aspects [9,23,24]. On one hand, some functional nanocomposites with excellent performance were prepared.…”

Fabrication and photocatalytic property of magnetic SrTiO3/NiFe2O4 heterojunction nanocomposites

“…19 Besides, pure SrTiO 3 photocatalyst is difficult to be separated and recycled from wastewater and easily produces secondary pollution, which limits the practical application of SrTiO 3 . To overcome the above problem, many researchers have adopted metal or anion doping and coupling to other semiconductor to enhance the photocatalytic ability of SrTiO 3 , such as lanthanum and nitrogen-co-doped SrTiO 3 28,29 However, the electrospinning method is disadvantaged by high cost and rigorous condition in procedure, and is unsuitable for industrial production. If magnetic NiFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles are coupled with SrTiO 3 by a facile and large-scale preparation method, it is possible to improve the photocatalytic activity and convenient separation from the waste water.…”