Hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic properties of pyrochlore La2Sn2O7 nanocubes

Nanocubic La2Sn2O7 photocatalysts with pyrochlore structure have been successfully synthesized by a one-pot hydrothermal method. The effects of alkaline concentration, reaction time, and hydrothermal temperature on the structures and morphologies of the resultant products were investigated. On the basis of characterization results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), a possible growth mechanism of the nanocubes under the hydrothermal conditions was proposed. The absorption spectra of as-prepared cubic La2Sn2O7 photocatalyst were determined by UV-vis spectrometer. Photocatalytic experiments showed that the La2Sn2O7 samples not only had a high activity for degradation of methyl orange, but also had the activity for generating H-2 with a rate of 39 mu mol/h under ultraviolet light irradiation.