A versatile salicylic acid precursor method for preparing titanate microspheres

作者:Liu Wei; Qu Yang; Zhou Wei; Ren Zhiyu; Jiang Baojiang; Wang Guofeng; Jiang Le; Yuan Fulong; Fu Honggang
来源:Science China-Materials, 2015, 58(2): 106-113.
DOI:10.1007/s40843-015-0029-2

摘要

Mixed-phase MgTiO3/MgTi2O5 microspheres were prepared through a salicylic acid precursor method and further calcined in air. The microspheres were formed through coordination, polymerization, and aggregation processes. Salicylic acid acted as a ligand in coordinating with metal ions, in addition to acting as a structure-directing agent in the polymerization and aggregation of the titanate precursor microspheres via chemical bonds and electrostatic attraction. The mixed-phase MgTiO3/MgTi2O5 microspheres prepared by this method showed excellent photocatalytic hydrogen production efficiencies that were two and four times higher than mixed-phase nanoparticles and pure-phase nanoparticles, respectively, owing to their closed phase junctions and sphere-like morphologies. This versatile and facile salicylic acid precursor method was also used to prepare a number of other bivalent metal-based titanate microspheres, including BaTiO3, ZnTiO3, CoTiO3, NiTiO3, and CdTiO3.