Physical properties and photocatalytic activity of pulverized Ga-doped La5Ti2Cu0.9Ag0.1O7S5 powder

Abstract

The photocatalytic activity of rod-like Ga-doped La5Ti2Cu0.9Ag0.1O7S5 (Ga-LTCA) particles exhibiting the one-dimensional conductivity is considered to be determined by the particle length relative to the charge carrier diffusion length (a few micrometers at most). In this work, Ga-LTCA particles with length of approximately 1 µm and a clear rod-like structure were prepared by thermal sulfidation, ball-milling, and post-annealing in sulfur vapor. Despite the small particle size and neat morphology, however, the photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of the resultant Ga-LTCA was lowered, indicating that the degradation of the crystallinity during the ball-milling treatment was detrimental to the activity.