One-step synthesis of the single crystal Ta₂O₅ nanowires with superior hydrogen production activity

We successfully synthesized the novel single crystal Ta₂O₅ nanowires for hydrogen production by facile one-step hydrolysis method. The as-prepared Ta₂O₅ photocatalysts displayed highly enhanced photocatalytic activities for hydrogen production, and the highest hydrogen production activity could reach up to ∼5.549 mmol·g⁻¹·h⁻¹, which was 9.72-fold higher than that of the commercial Ta₂O₅. Besides, it was noticeable that the spectrum absorption edges of the Ta₂O₅ catalysts displayed an obvious red shift, and the single crystal Ta₂O₅ nanowires were also obtained with the increase of the hydrolysis temperatures. Besides, the estimated band gap of the as-prepared Ta₂O₅-160, Ta₂O₅-180, Ta₂O₅-200 and Ta₂O₅-220 catalysts were 4.20, 4.16, 4.09 and 3.83 eV, respectively. And it could be concluded that the increase of the hydrolysis temperatures was contributing to improve the crystallinity and extend the spectrum response range of Ta₂O₅ catalyst in this experiment.