Comparative analysis of electrochemical performance and photocatalysis of SiO2 coated CaTiO3:RE3+ (Dy, Sm), Li+ core shell nano structures

Abstract We synthesized CaTiO3:Dy3+ (3 mol%),Li+(0.25–1 mol%)@SiO2 (CTDL@SiO2) and CaTiO3:Sm3+ (3 mol %), Li+ (0.25–1 mol%)@SiO2 (CTSL@SiO2) core–shell nanoparticles (NPs) via facile low temperature self-ignited solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method. Synthesized NPs were subjected to powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and electronic microscopic techniques (SEM and TEM). A systematic study on electrochemical and photocatalytic analysis was carried out and compared. Further, electrochemical and photocatalytic enhancement was observed in SiO2@CTDL & CTSL silica shell- structured NPs than the normal CTDL &CTSL NPs, which confirms the enhancement due to core shelled SiO2 on the prepared nanostructures.