Hydrothermal synthesis and photocatalytic activity of butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites with dominant {101} facets

Novel butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites dominantly bounded by {101} facets have been synthesized via a conventional hydrothermal by using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH) as a mineralizer and surface modifier. The wing-branches of the butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites are composed of primary block tetragonal plates with dominant {101} facets overlapping and ranking around the stem of 〈131〉 directions in the same plane belonging to the group of {101}. With the basis of the experimental results and the lattice structure, a possible formation mechanism of the butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites has been discussed and proposed. The preferential adsorption of the organic ions released by the ionization of TMAH on {101} planes suppresses the deposition of the calcium titanate species on {101} planes, which induces the formation of the primary block tetragonal plates and their overlapping as well as ranking around 〈131〉 direction along {101} planes, resulting in the butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites bounded with {101} facets. The investigation on the degradation of rhodamine-B demonstrates, due to the dominant exposition of the {101} facets, the butterfly-like CaTiO3 dendrites display superior photocatalytic activity of more than four time that of CaTiO3 microcuboids bounded with smart {101} and (010) facets.