Nanosized photocatalysts have attracted much attention because of their unique physical properties, such as large surface area, small particle size and good crystallinity, which are closely related to better photocatalytic activity. To date, soft chemical process has become a promising method for the direct preparation of functional nanostructures since it generates highly crystalline products with high purity, narrow size distribution, high surface area and low aggregation. Meanwhile, the morphology and crystal form of the products can also be controlled by adjusting the reaction conditions.
In this study, we reported the selectively synthesis of nanostructured photocatalyst from hydrothermal process, taking SrSnO₃ as an example. With a simple adjustment, SrSnO₃ nanostructures with dumbbell-like and rod-like morphologies were successfully synthesized. Besides simple experimental procedures, their chemical and physical properties, such as surface and photocatalytic properties etc., have also been studied in detail and systematically. Moreover, the formation mechanism and the relationships between nanostructures and photocatalytic properties of catalysts were investigated detailed. The as-prepared SrSnO₃ nanostructures were found to show much higher activity for water splitting than the bulk sample from the solid state route under UV-vis light irradiation. We have also adopted the similar approach to fabricate other oxide photocatalysts, such as PbSnO₃, WO₃ etc., and have achieved enhanced activity for organic degradation. These results highlight that the shape-controlled synthesis of catalyst with favorable photocatalytic properties is a promising strategy to develop highly efficient catalysts. It is expected to design and synthesize some photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity from the soft chemical process.