LaTaON2 photoelectrodes for solar hydrogen production by water splitting

Zhaosheng Li^a

^aNational Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Ecomaterials and Renewable Energy Research Center (ERERC), Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing , 210093, China

Proceedings of International Conference on New Advances in Materials Research for Solar Fuels Production (SolarFuel14)

Montréal, Canada, 2014 June 25th - 26th

Organizer: Thomas Hamann

Poster, Zhaosheng Li, 018
Publication date: 16th April 2014

Photoelectrochemical water splitting by using sunlight is a promising approach to produce hydrogen. Lanthanum tantalum oxynitride (LaTaON₂) powder was prepared by one-step flux method. LaTaON₂ powder with a bandgap of ca. 2.0 eV was demonstrated to evolve H₂ and O₂ from water containing hole scavengers (methanol) and electron scavengers (AgNO₃) under visible-light irradiation, respectively, suggesting that it may be a photoelectrode candidate for solar hydrogen production by water splitting. LaTaON₂ photoanodes, which were fabricated by using LaTaON₂ powder, were found to exhibit photoelectrochemical water splitting under AM 1.5G irradiation (100 mW cm^-2). The photocurrent density of 0.12 mA cm^-2 at 1.5 V_RHE was achieved for LaTaON₂ photoanodes in aqueous NaOH (pH=13.6) solution under AM 1.5G irradiation. The photocurrent density of LaTaON₂ photoelectrode from back-side illumination is much larger than that from front-side illumination, suggesting that the photoelectrochemical performance is mainly limited by poor continuous electron transport in the bulk. The photoelectrochemical performance of LaTaON₂ photoelectrode is mainly limited by poor continuous electron transport in the bulk. Further efforts on this material should be aimed to address the poor charge transport in the bulk, such as optimizing synthesis conditions and increasing the electrical conductivity.
References
[1] Liu MY, You WS, Lei ZB, Takata T, Domen K, Li C. Chin. J. Catal. 2006, 27, 556-558.
[2]Zhang L, Song Y, Feng JY, Fang T, Zhong YJ, Li ZS, Zou ZG. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2014, Accepted.

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