title: Synthesis and photocatalytic activity of N-doped NaTaO3 compounds calcined at low temperature.
abstract: N-doped NaTaO(3) compounds (NaTaO(3-x)N(x)) were successfully synthesized using NaTaO(3) prepared at low calcination temperature as starting material and melamine (C(3)H(6)N(6)) as nitrogen source. The as-prepared NaTaO(3-x)N(x) samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The XRD results indicate that the crystallization temperature of NaTaO(3) is up to 700 degrees C and the doping of N does not lead to significant structural changes. Moreover, as observed by SEM images, the particle sizes of resultant NaTaO(3-x)N(x) are in the range of 100-150 nm, which are much smaller than NaTaO(3) particles synthesized by traditional solid state reaction method. The photocatalytic activities of NaTaO(3-x)N(x) were examined by methylene blue (MB) aqueous solution under UV light. It is found that the photocatalytic activity of NaTaO(3-x)N(x) depend strongly on the doping content of N, and sample NaTaO(2.961)N(0.039) shows the highest photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MB. Furthermore, it is also found that NaTaO(3-x)N(x) catalysts display super structural stabilities during photocatalytic degradation, and could recover their photocatalytic activity after calcination at 500 degrees C, suggesting a promising utilization of such photocatalyst.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials, Ministry of Education, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, 5988 People's Avenue, Changchun 130025, China.
authors.forename: Da-Rui
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Cun-Di
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Xu-Guang
authors.initials: XG
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yin-Shan
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D003080:Cold Temperature; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010777:Photochemistry; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D013635:Tantalum / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010087:Oxides; C404416:sodium tantalate; D013635:Tantalum