Tantalum Cobalt Nitride Photocatalysts for Water Oxidation…钽钴氮氧化物光催化剂用于水氧化.pdfVIP

Article /cm Tantalum Cobalt Nitride Photocatalysts for Water Oxidation under Visible Light Yanqing Cong,† Hyun S. Park, Hoang X. Dang, Fu-Ren F. Fan, Allen J. Bard,* and C. Buddie Mullins Center for Electrochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station A5300, Austin, Texas 78712, United States Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, Center for Nano- and Molecular Science, The University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C0400, Austin, Texas 78712, United States S *Supporting Information ABSTRACT: Tantalum cobalt nitride photocatalysts were prepared using a simple drop coating method on a Ta foil substrate followed by thermal ammonia treatment, and their photoelectrochemical (PEC) properties for water oxidation under visible light were studied. The resulting Ta0.9Co0.1Nx films showed a photocurrent of ca. 1.5 mA/cm2 (12 times higher than that of Ta N ) under 3 5 2 100 mW/cm visible light irradiation at 0.7 V vs Ag/AgCl in a 0.1 M Na2SO4 aqueous solution (pH 11). The good PEC performance was attributed to the introduction of cobalt and the formation of cobalt nitride, which efficiently facilitates electron transfer and suppresses the recombination of photogenerated electron−hole pairs. Some cobalt nitride could further be oxidized to generate cobalt oxide, which serves as an efficient electrocatalyst for water oxidation. The enhanced visible light activity and film stabili