In-situ Synthesis of Perovskite SrTiO₃ Nanostructures with Modified Morphology and Tunable Optical Absorption Property

Abstract

As a perovskite family member, SrTiO 3 shows significant applications in the fields of solar cells, photocatalysis, fuel cells and superconducting as a dependence of its crystallinity, morphology, crystal facet and optical properties. In this work, we reported an in-situ synthetic approach of SrTiO 3 nanostructures with modified morphology and tunable optical absorption properties based on conventional plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) associated with hydrothermal method. The morphology of SrTiO 3 nanostructures can be selectively modified from microcubes with smooth facets to ultrathin nanosheets by controlling the concentration of Sr source during PEO process. It is found that both SrTiO 3 microcubes and Sr 1-δ TiO 3 nanosheets are well-crystallized single crystals. UV-Vis diffuse reactance spectrum (DRS) measurement reveals that Sr 1-δ TiO 3 nanosheets with thin thickness show obvious blue-shift of absorption edge in comparison with SrTiO 3 microcubes due to the size effect. Finally, the morphology evolution and nucleation mechanism of SrTiO 3 nanostructures in-situ grown on PEO film is discussed.