Hydrothermal Synthesis and Photocatalytic Activity of Layered Perovskite-Like Titanate K2La2Ti3O10 Ultrafine Nanoplatelets

Layered perovskite-like oxide K2La2Ti3O10 belonging to Ruddlesden-Popper phases was prepared by hydrothermal method from commercially available precursors. Various conditions, namely reaction time, temperature and precursors concentration were varied to prepare well-crystallized single phase product. Morphology, specific surface area, band gap and photocatalytic activity in reaction of hydrogen evolution from aqueous methanol solution were investigated in comparison with the oxide prepared by the conventional ceramic method. The hydrothermally prepared oxide has an ultrafine plate-like morphology with 4–5 nm particle thickness and relatively big lateral sizes of about 2–5 µm. Obtained samples have ~10 times higher specific surface area and ~3 times higher photocatalytic activity comparing to the ceramic sample, however using a Pt co-catalyst leads to the lower photocatalytic activity of the hydrothermal sample comparing to the platinized ceramic one. The developed approach may be further used for preparation of organic-inorganic hybrids and monolayers based on H2La2Ti3O10 for further enhancement of photocatalytic activity.