Single crystal titanate-zirconate nanoleaf: Synthesis, growth mechanism and enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution properties

A novel titanate-zirconate solid solution with controllable nanoleaf/microsisal-like three-dimensional morphology, Na ₂(Ti _0.75Zr _0.25) ₄O ₉, grows on the surface of a Ti-based bulk metallic glass by a combination of hydrothermal and dealloying processes. A single sisal-like bundle consists of a number of nano-sized leaves and each nanoleaf has a thickness, width and length of 20-30 nm, 200-300 nm and 15-20 μm, respectively. A modified dipole driving Ostwald ripening mechanism for the interesting architectures has been proposed based on a series of time-dependent experiments and the structure feature of titanate. Moreover, the as-synthesized nanoleaf/microsisal-like material exhibits extraordinary ability to produce hydrogen from a methanol/water solution that is higher than that of a commercial TiO ₂ (Degussa P25) film, undoping titanate nanotube film and titanate-zirconate one-dimensional nanoleaf film. Possible origins of the high performance of the as-synthesized three-dimensional nanomaterials were discussed based on theoretical and experimental results.