Photophysical and Photocatalytic Activities of a Novel Photocatalyst BaZn1/3Nb2/3O3

A new ABO 3 perovskite photocatalyst BaZn 1/3 Nb 2/3 O 3 has been synthesized by a solid-state reaction process. Nine Raman active vibration modes observed from its Raman scattering spectrum suggest that BaZn 1/3 Nb 2/3 O 3 possesses a distorted perovskite structure. The formation rate of H 2 evolution from CH 3 OH/H 2 O solution with 5.0 wt % Pt cocatalyst under the irradiation of a 400 W Hg lamp is about 2685.7 μmol/(h·g catal). for the photocatalyst BaZn 1/3 Nb 2/3 O 3 . It also splits pure water into H 2 and O 2 in a stoichiometric ratio with NiO x and RuO 2 cocatalysts under UV light irradiation. The formation rates of the H 2 and O 2 evolution from pure water in the case of 1.0 wt % NiO x cocatalyst under UV light irradiation are 291.22 and 145.61 μmol/(h·g catal), respectively. The photoelectrochemical properties of BaZn 1/3 Nb 2/3 O 3 film as deposited by using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique suggested that the lower conduction band should be composed of the Zn 2+ 4s state, which is in good agreement with its UV−vis diffuse reflectance spectrum.