One-pot nitridation route synthesis of SrTaO2N/Ta3N5 type II heterostructure with enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity

Rationally and skillfully constructing semiconductor heterostructured photocatalysts, benefited from the facilitated the carrier separation and transfer, have attracted intensive attention and been demonstrated as a manageable and effective strategy to develop high-performance photocatalysts. Herein, a novel SrTaO2N/Ta3N5 heterostructured photocatalyst were fabricated by one-pot nitridation of Sr2Ta2O7/Ta2O5 precursor under ammonia flow. The as-prepared SrTaO2N/Ta3N5 is a type-II heterostructure with an intimate interface contact, and the photocatalytic hydrogen production over the optimized heterostructure SrTaO2N(0.1)/Ta3N5 is about 14.1 times higher than that of individual SrTaO2N. The experimental results suggest that the formation of type-II heterostructure and intimate interface contact between Ta3N5 and SrTaO2N accelerates the separation and transfer of electrons and holes under visible light irradiation, consequently contribute to the improved hydrogen production rate. Moreover, we highlight that one-pot nitridation has the great potential to apply as an underlying general strategy of designing and fabricating other types of high-efficiency tantalum oxynitride-based heterostructured photocatalysts. (C) 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.