A Facile In Situ Hydrothermal Etching Method to CaTiO 3 /TiO 2 Heterostructure for Efficient Photocatalytic N 2 Reduction

Photocatalytic nitrogen fixation for the synthesis of ammonia is an important and attractive method to N 2 turning into other compounds. The development of compact heterostructure photocatalysts is crucial for efficient solar energy conversion. Here, composite was obtained by simple in situ hydrothermal etching of the reduced TiO 2 nanospheres with saturated calcium hydroxide solution. CaTiO 3 /TiO 2 heterostructure composite can adsorb, activate and convert N 2 to ammonia by using its close contact interface. Under simulated sunlight irradiation, CaTiO 3 /TiO 2 composite greatly enhanced the photocatalytic N 2 reduction performance. Compared with pure CaTiO 3 , the efficiency of 0.3-T–C heterostructure in synthesizing NH 3 under visible light was 1.88 times higher than that of pure CaTiO 3 (59.17 μmol·g −1 ·h −1 ) The excellent photocatalytic performance of CaTiO 3 /TiO 2 is attributed to the close structure between CaTiO 3 and TiO 2 , which promotes the separation of photogenerated charges and provides more active sites. This study provides a basic idea for the rational design of highly efficient heterogeneous photocatalysts to achieve excellent photocatalytic performance for N 2 reduction. Graphic Abstract