Plate-Like Bi4Ti3O12 Particles and their Topochemical Conversion to SrTiO3 Under Hydrothermal Conditions

Plate-like Bi4Ti3O12 particles were synthesized using a one-step, molten-salt method from Bi2O3 and TiO2 nanopowders at 800 °C. The reaction parameters that affect the crystal structure and morphology were identified and systematically investigated. The differences between various Bi4Ti3O12 plate-like particles were examined in terms of the ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transition and the photocatalytic activity for the degradation of Rhodamine B under UV-Alight irradiation. The results encouraged us to conduct further testing of the as-prepared Bi4Ti3O12 plate-like particles as templates for the preparation of plate-like SrTiO3 perovskite particles using a topochemical conversion under hydrothermal conditions. The characteristics of the Bi4Ti3O12 plates and the reaction parameters for which the SrTiO3 preserved the shape of the initial Bi4Ti3O12 template particles were determined.