Open AccessSynthesis of Coral-Like Tantalum Oxide Films via Anodization in Mixed Organic-Inorganic Electrolytes
Author(s) -
Hao Yu,
Suiyi Zhu,
Yang Xia,
Xinhong Wang,
Hongwei Sun,
Mingxin Huo
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0066447
Subject(s) - materials science , anodizing , tantalum , electrolyte , chemical engineering , calcination , oxide , inorganic chemistry , ethylene glycol , anatase , photocatalysis , electrode , metallurgy , chemistry , organic chemistry , aluminium , catalysis , engineering
We report a simple method to fabricate nano-porous tantalum oxide films via anodization with Ta foils as the anode at room temperature. A mixture of ethylene glycol, phosphoric acid, NH 4 F and H 2 O was used as the electrolyte where the nano-porous tantalum oxide could be synthesized by anodizing a tantalum foil for 1 h at 20 V in a two–electrode configuration. The as-prepared porous film exhibited a continuous, uniform and coral-like morphology. The diameters of pores ranged from 30 nm to 50 nm. The pores interlaced each other and the depth was about 150 nm. After calcination, the as-synthesized amorphous tantalum oxide could be crystallized to the orthorhombic crystal system. As observed in photocatalytic experiments, the coral-like tantalum oxide exhibited a higher photocatalytic activity for the degradation of phenol than that with a compact surface morphology, and the elimination rate of phenol increased by 66.7%.