Nanostructured CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ for environmental remediation through visible light active catalysis

The unresolved issue of generating well defined nanostructure of calcium copper titanate, a well-known dielectric perovskite, has been overcome through simple molten salt approach. This technique provides a one-step, convenient, low-cost, nontoxic, and mass-production route for the synthesis of nanostructures of complex oxides with important scientific and technological applications. The as-synthesized powder, characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy was confirmed to be a phase pure calcium copper titanate nanocubes with edge length around 180 nm having sharp edges. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange aqueous solution under visible light irradiation and exhibited higher dye degradation ability compared to its bulk counterpart. The enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to increase in both the surface area as well as photo-generated carrier life time.