LA-DOPED NATAO3 PARTICLES: EFFECT OF DIFFERENT COCATALYSTS ON PHOTOCATALYTIC HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN EVOLUTION ACTIVITIES

摘要

In order to solve the global energy and environment issues, many technologies have been addressed to the development of high efficient systems for solar energy conversion and storage. One of them is the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen via water splitting process employing metal-oxide semiconductors. Tantalum containing oxides have shown promising stability and activity for this process, especially NaTaO3 doped with lanthanum has demonstrated high quantum yield of water splitting under UV irradiation. The crystal structure, crystallinity and particle size as well as cocatalyst strongly affect the photocatalytic activity of the photocatalysts. Cocatalysts such as Pt, NiO or RuO2 are usually loaded to create active sites for H2 and O2 evolution and reduce the recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers.