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Fabrication of an Fe‐Doped SrTiO 3 Photocatalyst with Enhanced Dinitrogen Photofixation Performance
Author(s) -
Ying Zihao,
Chen Shengtao,
Peng Tianyou,
Li Renjie,
Zhang Jing
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
european journal of inorganic chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.667
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1099-0682
pISSN - 1434-1948
DOI - 10.1002/ejic.201900098
Subject(s) - photocatalysis , calcination , chemistry , doping , catalysis , hydrothermal circulation , hydrothermal synthesis , molecule , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , chemical engineering , materials science , organic chemistry , optoelectronics , engineering
SrTiO 3 as semiconducting photocatalyst has been extensively investigated due to its band edges meeting the thermodynamic requirements for water splitting, but a few attention has been concentrated on its application in the NH 3 synthesis via N 2 photofixation process. Herein, Fe‐doped SrTiO 3 (Fe x Sr 1– x TiO 3 ) products (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) were synthesized via a hydrothermal process followed by calcination at 700 °C. All Fe x Sr 1– x TiO 3 products (0.03 ≤ x ≤ 0.20) deliver an enhanced N 2 fixation ability, and Fe x Sr 1– x TiO 3 ( x = 0.10) achieves the best NH 3 production activity of 30.1 µmol g –1 h –1 , which is 3.2‐hold higher than that of SrTiO 3 alone. Once the x value is higher than 0.10, Fe x Sr 1– x TiO 3 will transform into composites containing Fe‐doped SrTiO 3 and α‐Fe 2 O 3 , which acts as charge recombination sites, thus causes a decreased N 2 fixation activity. Further investigations demonstrate that the surface Fe 3+ ‐doped sites can not only chemisorb and activate N 2 molecules, but also promote the interfacial electron transfer from Fe‐doped SrTiO 3 to N 2 molecules, and thus significantly improve the N 2 fixation ability. The present Fe‐doped SrTiO 3 products exhibit characteristic features such as stable and efficient N 2 fixation ability as well as simultaneous realization of N 2 reduction and H 2 O oxidation without co‐catalyst, which are of significance in artificial photosynthesis with H 2 O as electron and proton sources.