Plate-Like Bi4Ti3O12 Particles and their Topochemical Conversion to SrTiO3 Under Hydrothermal Conditions

Abstract

Plate-like Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ particles were synthesized using a one-step, molten-salt method from Bi₂O₃ and TiO₂ nanopowders at 800 °C. The reaction parameters that affect the crystal structure and morphology were identified and systematically investigated. The differences between various Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ plate-like particles were examined in terms of the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition and the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Rhodamine B under UV-A light irradiation. The results encouraged us to conduct further testing of the as-prepared Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ plate-like particles as templates for the preparation of plate-like SrTiO₃ perovskite particles using a topochemical conversion under hydrothermal conditions. The characteristics of the Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ plates and the reaction parameters for which the SrTiO₃ preserved the shape of the initial Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ template particles were determined.