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Enhanced Charge Transport in Tantalum Nitride Nanotube Photoanodes for Solar Water Splitting
Author(s) -
Wang Lei,
Nguyen Nhat Truong,
Zhou Xuemei,
Hwang Imgon,
Killian Manuela S.,
Schmuki Patrik
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201500632
Subject(s) - water splitting , tantalum nitride , materials science , tantalum , nitride , nanotube , nanotechnology , charge (physics) , solar energy conversion , solar energy , carbon nanotube , photocatalysis , chemistry , metallurgy , catalysis , physics , layer (electronics) , biochemistry , ecology , quantum mechanics , biology
In the present work we grow anodic self‐organized Ta 2 O 5 nanotube layers, which are converted by ammonolysis to Ta 3 N 5 nanotubes, and then are used as photoanodes for photoanalytic water splitting. We introduce a two‐step anodization process that not only improves order (reduced growth defects) and overall light absorption in the nanotube layers, but also provides a significantly reduced interface charge resistance at the nitride/metal interface due to subnitride (TaN x ) formation. As a result, such nanotube anodes afford a 15‐fold increase of the photocurrent compared with conventional nanotubular Ta 3 N 5 electrodes under AM 1.5 G simulated sunlight (100 mW cm −2 ) conditions.