Enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution over CaTi1-xZrxO3 composites synthesized by polymerized complex method

The solid solution of CaTi1-x Zr (x) O-3 (x = 0-0.15) was successfully synthesized by the polymerized complex (PC) method. This study has exhibited the advantage of the PC method to prepare a highly active CaTiO3 compared with the conventional solid-state reaction (SSR) method. More importantly, further improvement in phase purity and large surface area was achieved by the doping of Zr4+, leading to remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic activities compared to pure CaTiO3. The quantum yield for H-2 evolution over the most active photocatalyst, Pt (1.0 wt%)/CaTi0.93Zr0.07O3, was 1.91% and 13.3% in photoreactions from pure water and aqueous ethanol solution, respectively for 0.1 g photocatalyst, which was about 3.3 and 2.5 times compared to that of PC-derived CaTiO3.