Optimizing photocatalytic efficiency of La2Ti2O7 nanoparticles: a comprehensive experimental and theoretical approach

In this work, the effect of the calcination temperature (600–800 °C) on the structural, morphological, and photocatalytic efficiency of La₂Ti₂O₇ nanoparticles synthesized via a wet-chemical method was studied. Characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with EDX, High resolution Transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis, Raman spectroscopies were used to study the synthesized samples. The XRD and the SEM results confirms that the increase in calcination temperature from 600 to 800 °C significantly increases the crystallinity and the formations of uniform near spherical particles was witnessed. Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis provided compositional insights and HR-TEM images highlighted the layered morphology, with clear fringes revealing the improved crystallinity at higher temperatures. DFT calculations provided insights into the electronic structure, optical properties, and work function of La₂Ti₂O₇. Photocatalytic activities of the samples were examined through methylene blue dye degradation, which showed that the sample calcined at 800 °C exhibits the highest dye degradation rate.