Rapid hydrothermal synthesis and pH-dependent photocatalysis of strontium titanate microspheres

This manuscript describes a methodology for a rapid hydrothermal conventional synthesis of SrTiO3. The time of synthesis and use of mechanical stirring are related to the structural, morphological and photocatalytic properties of the samples synthesized. When the synthesis was carried out with mechanical stirring, the conventional hydrothermal method was fast and efficient for the obtaining of an SrTiO3 phase after a one-minute treatment. The stirring of the precursor solution during the synthesis affected the crystalline phase, morphology and thermal stability positively. All synthesized samples showed a good photoactivity towards methylene blue (MB) degradation under UVC irradiation. In addition, the photodegradation of MB and Rhodamine B (RhB) dye was studied at different PH values and higher efficiencies were achieved under alkaline and acidic conditions for MB and RhB, respectively.