Synthesis of Bismuth Titanate Pyrochlore Nanorods and Uses Thereof

Background

Pyrochlores (A2B2O7) are a lesser-studied family of compounds that offer the flexibility to tune photocatalytic properties. Bismuth Titanate (BTO), Bi2Ti2O7, is a photoactive member of the pyrochlore family that can potentially meet the aforementioned objectives of a Photocatalyst. However, the full potential of this Photocatalyst for hydrogen generation has not yet been fully exploited because attempts to synthesize and characterize stoichiometric BTO pyrochlore are far and few.

Description

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno have developed a Reverse micelle (RM) method which is used to synthesize nanostructures while having photocatalytic activity. This method includes separately mixing together a first acid stabilized aqueous solution including pyrochlore precursor A and a second acid stabilized aqueous solution including pyrochlore precursor B with an organic solution including a surfactant to form an oil-in-water emulsion.  Equimolar solutions of the first and second acid stabilized oil in water emulsions are mixed together.  Then, the mixture of the first and second acid stabilized oil-in-water emulsion is treated with a base to produce a precipitate including pyrochlore precursors A and B. After which, the precipitate is dried to remove volatiles. The precipitate is then calcined in the presence of oxygen to form a Pyrochlore nanostructure, such as a bismuth Titanate (Bi2Ti2O7) Pyrochlore Nanorod. This method of synthesizing the pyrochlore nanorod is template-free.

Advantages

• This method can be used for preparing pyrochlores nanostructures for a wide range of applications including catalysis, electronics and sensors.
• This method describes a new way of synthesis not just BTO Pyrochlores Nanorods but a family of compounds belonging to pyrochlores.
• The solid solution formed in the reaction zone leads to the creation of a new phase in the pyrochlore crystal structure, which is also evident from the XRD data.

Patents

• 8,900,537
• 9,561,493