Microwave-assisted synthesis of La–Cr co-doped SrTiO3 nano-particles and their use in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution under visible light

Abstract

The increasing need for efficient materials capable of solar fuel generation is primary to the development of a green energy economy. In this contribution, we demonstrate that La–Cr co-doped SrTiO₃ (STO) nano-particles obtained through a one-pot microwave-assisted method exhibit visible light absorption. We fine-tune the content from cation substitution in the structure of the STO to develop high-efficiency visible-light-driven water splitting photocatalysts considering the discrete impurity levels created by dopants. In our study, we draw the conclusion from the experiments that the photocatalytic hydrogen production performance was optimum when the doping molar amount of La–Cr was 5%. Rational explanations for the high-performance of the photocatalysts of La–Cr co-doped STO materials are described.