# Soft-Templated Sol–Gel Synthesis of Mesoporous Perovskite-Type Multicomponent Metal Oxide (Bi0.2Na0.2K0.2La0.2Sr0.2)TiO3 and Its Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity

## TL;DR

A new low-temperature method creates a mesoporous photocatalyst with high surface area and six times better performance than commercial alternatives.

## Contribution

A soft-templating sol–gel method enables low-temperature synthesis of a multicomponent perovskite with high surface area.

## Key findings

- The catalyst achieved a specific surface area of 50.4 m² g⁻¹ at 400 °C.
- It degraded methylene blue six times faster than commercial SrTiO3 under UV light.
- Soft-templating improves photocatalytic performance by preserving surface area.

## Abstract

The high calcination temperature required for the crystallization
of multicomponent metal oxides is a challenge because this treatment
significantly reduces their specific surface area while increasing
the crystallite size, thereby limiting their photocatalytic performances.
In this study, we have addressed this issue for a multicomponent perovskite
photocatalyst, (Bi0.2Na0.2K0.2La0.2Sr0.2)­TiO3 (BNKLST), by employing
a soft-templating sol–gel method using Pluronic F-127. The
synthesis process was optimized by adjusting the solution’s
pH to ensure uniform micelle self-assembly and by determining the
optimum calcination temperature for the pore formation. This approach
enabled the successful low-temperature synthesis of BNKLST, which
retained a high specific surface area of 50.4 m2 g–1 at 400 °C. The resulting catalyst exhibited
excellent photocatalytic activity, degrading methylene blue under
UV irradiation (250–450 nm) at a rate more than six times faster
than that obtained using commercial SrTiO3. These findings
demonstrate that enhancing the specific surface area of multicomponent
metal oxides through a soft-templating approach is an effective strategy
in photocatalyst design.