Fabrication of cation-doped BaTaO2N photoanodes for efficient photoelectrochemical water splitting under visible light irradiation

A series of cation-doped BaTaO2N particle was synthesized to control the donor density in the bulk for improving the performance of photoelectrochemical water splitting on porous BaTaO2N photoanodes under visible light. Among the dopants (Mo6+, W6+, Zr4+, and Ti4+) examined, Mo6+ cations can be introduced into the Ta5+ site up to 5 mol. % without producing any impurity phases; the donor density of BaTaO2N was indeed increased significantly by introducing higher ratio of Mo6+ dopant. The porous photoanodes of Mo-doped BaTaO2N showed much higher photocurrent than others including undoped one and also exhibited much improved performance in photoelectrochemical water splitting into H-2 and O-2 after loaded with cobalt oxide cocatalyst and coupled with Pt counter electrode. (C) 2015 Author(s).