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Updated: May 1, 2026
Harvesting Solar Energy by Means of Charge-Separating Nanocrystals and Their Solids
Published on: August 23, 2012
Layered tantalum oxynitride nanorod array carpets for efficient photoelectrochemical conversion of solar energy:
Nageh K Allam1, Basamat S Shaheen, Ahmed M Hafez
1Energy Materials Laboratory (EML), Physics Department, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo , New Cairo 11835, Egypt.
Abstract:
Anodically fabricated tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) nanorod array carpets are converted into the corresponding tantalum oxynitride (TaON) through nitridation in an ammonia atmosphere. The measured optical bandgap energy of TaON is ∼2.3 eV, which is also confirmed via the density functional theory calculations. When used to photoelectrochemically split water (AM 1.5G illumination, 1 M KOH, and 0.6 V applied DC bias), the multilayer nanorod films show visible-light incident photon conversion efficiencies (IPCE) as high as 7.5%. The enhanced photochemical activity is discussed in terms of the ordered one-dimensional morphology as well as the electron effective mass in TaON and Ta2O5.
