Vanadium doped CaTiO₃ cuboids: role of vanadium in improving the photocatalytic activity

CaTiO₃ has attracted enormous interest in the fields of photocatalytic dye degradation and water splitting owing to its low cost, excellent physicochemical stability and structural tunability. Herein, we have developed a simple one pot solvothermal approach which directs V into the Ti sites in the isovalent state during the synthesis of V doped CaTiO₃ cuboids. The prediction of reduction in the band gap due to the formation of additional levels just beneath the conduction band edge by the first principles density functional electronic structure study is confirmed by the experimental results. The suppression of charge carrier recombination in 1.0 V leads to the highest photocatalytic activity in the degradation of methylene blue. The percentage degradation of 94.2 indicates its suitability as an excellent catalyst for photocatalytic water treatment.