Crystal Facet Engineering on SrTiO₃ Enhances Photocatalytic Overall Water Splitting

Abstract

Single-crystal semiconductor-based photocatalysts exposing unique crystallographic facets show promising applications in energy and environmental technologies; however, crystal facet engineering through solid-state synthesis for photocatalytic overall water splitting is still challenging. Herein, we develop a novel crystal facet engineering strategy through solid-state recrystallization to synthesize uniform SrTiO₃ single crystals exposing tailored {111} facets. The presynthesized low-crystalline SrTiO₃ precursors enable the formation of well-defined single crystals through kinetically improved crystal structure transformation during solid-state recrystallization process. By employing subtle Al³⁺ ions as surface morphology modulators, the crystal surface orientation can be precisely tuned to a controlled percentage of {111} facets. The photocatalytic overall water splitting activity increases with the exposure percentage of {111} facets. Owing to the outstanding crystallinity and favorable anisotropic surface structure, the SrTiO₃ single crystals with 36.6% of {111} facets lead to a 3-fold enhancement of photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rates up to 1.55 mmol·h^-1 in a stoichiometric ratio of 2:1 than thermodynamically stable SrTiO₃ enclosed with isotropic {100} facets.