Modified Ta3N5 powder as a photocatalyst for O2 evolution in a two-step water splitting system with an iodate/iodide shuttle redox mediator under visible light

Masashi Tabata; Kazuhiko Maeda; Masanobu Higashi; Daling Lu; Tsuyoshi Takata; Ryu Abe; Kazunari Domen

doi:10.1021/la100722w

Modified Ta3N5 powder as a photocatalyst for O2 evolution in a two-step water splitting system with an iodate/iodide shuttle redox mediator under visible light

Langmuir. 2010 Jun 15;26(12):9161-5. doi: 10.1021/la100722w.

Authors

Masashi Tabata¹, Kazuhiko Maeda, Masanobu Higashi, Daling Lu, Tsuyoshi Takata, Ryu Abe, Kazunari Domen

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemical System Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.

PMID: 20527825
DOI: 10.1021/la100722w

Abstract

Modification of tantalum nitride (Ta(3)N(5)), which has a band gap of 2.1 eV, with nanoparticulate iridium (Ir) and rutile titania (R-TiO(2)) achieved functionality as an O(2) evolution photocatalyst in a two-step water-splitting system with an IO(3)(-)/I(-) shuttle redox mediator under visible light (lambda > 420 nm) in combination with a Pt/ZrO(2)/TaON H(2) evolution photocatalyst. The loaded Ir nanoparticles acted as active sites to reduce IO(3)(-) to I(-), while the R-TiO(2) modifier suppressed the adsorption of I(-) on Ta(3)N(5), allowing Ta(3)N(5) to evolve O(2) in the two-step water-splitting system.