One-step synthesis of hollow BaZrO3 nanocrystals with oxygen vacancies for photocatalytic hydrogen evolution from pure water

It is very challenging to synthesize perovskite oxides with controlled morphology and defect states at the same time. In this work, the BaZrO3 hollow nanostructures with oxygen vacancies were facilely synthesized through one-step solvothermal method using ethylenediamine (EDA) as solvent. The as-synthesized BaZrO3 could split pure water into H2 without addition of sacrificial agent under UV light irradiation. The photocatalytic H2 production rate is about 15 times than that of the commercial BaZrO3 (BZO-C). It is believed that the presence of oxygen vacancies and the hollow morphology made contribution to the improvement of photocatalytic performance. This work provides a reference for microstructure and defect modification of photocatalysts at the same time to enhance the photocatalytic performance.