One-step heating hydrothermal of iridium-doped cubic perovskite strontium titanate towards hydrogen evolution

[Display omitted] •Low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis of Ir-doped SrTiO3 nano cubes.•Enhancing photocatalytic activity with low Iridium content (1 wt%).•High hydrogen evolution rate up to 1376 μmol.g−1.h−1 under ultraviolet. A series of Iridium (Ir)-doped strontium titanate (SrTiO3) was successfully prepared for the first time by a one-step heating hydrothermal method for water splitting applications. An amount of Ir was incorporated into SrTiO3 structure at 210 °C and pH = 13 without any surfactant or stabilization addition. Compared to the pure SrTiO3 nanomaterials, the as-obtained Ir-doped SrTiO3 photocatalysts shows the significantly improved hydrogen evolution under ultraviolet irradiation and the highest activity with a hydrogen evolution rate of 1376 μmol.g−1.h−1 of the Ir-doped SrTiO3 photocatalyst with very low amount of doping Ir (1.0 wt%). The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirms the existence of Ir4+ in accompany with Ir3+ on the surface, which could be assigned for the excellent performance of prepared materials. The successful synthesis of Ir-doped SrTiO3 not only introduces a new route to prepare a promoting material for hydrogenation evolution from water splitting under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation using methanol as a sacrificed agent, but also creates a preliminary step for high-performance Ir-doped SrTiO3.