Visible light photocatalysis of amorphous Cl-Ta₂O_5-x microspheres for stabilized hydrogen generation

Harvesting broad spectral absorption and visible light photocatalysis of ultrawide bandgap semiconductors are one of most significative topics in the solar energy conversion and utilization fields. In this work, amorphous Cl-Ta₂O_5-x microspheres were prepared by facile solvothermal method for stabilized visible light photocatalytic hydrogen generation. The acetone absorbed on the interfaces of Ta₂O₅ nanoparticles induced the formation of oxygen vacancies, enhanced visible light absorption, and formation of Ta₂O_5-x microspheres with preferred orientations as well as Cl doping. The Cl-Ta₂O_5-x microspheres showed typical amorphous characteristics and obvious visible light absorption in comparison to those of commercial Ta₂O₅. More importantly, the prepared Cl-Ta₂O_5-x microspheres also showed stabilized visible light photocatalytic hydrogen generation performance in the spectral regions of 400 nm ≤ λ ≤ 600 nm mainly because of the introduction of oxygen vacancy defects and Cl doping, which might significantly expand the application of tantalum oxide semiconductors in the broad spectral photocatalytic water splitting.