title: Highly stable water splitting on oxynitride TaON photoanode system under visible light irradiation.
abstract: Highly stable photoelectrochemical water splitting is demonstrated for the first time on a tantalum oxynitride (TaON) photoanode under visible light irradiation. Highly dispersed CoO(x) nanoparticles on the TaON photoanode efficiently scavenge photogenerated holes and effectively suppress self-oxidative deactivation of the TaON surface, resulting in a stable photocurrent. The use of highly dispersed CoO(x) cocatalyst on TaON together with phosphate solutions significantly increased the photocurrent due to the formation of a cobalt/phosphate phase. This enabled us to stably split water into H(2) and O(2) under visible light irradiation at a relatively low applied bias (0.6 V vs Pt counter electrode).
authors.affiliation: Catalysis Research Center, Hokkaido University, North 21, West 10, Sapporo 001-0021, Japan.
authors.forename: Masanobu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domen
authors.forename: Ryu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D003035:Cobalt / Q000737:chemistry; D004566:Electrodes; D008027:Light; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry; D010316:Particle Size; D010777:Photochemistry; D013635:Tantalum / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D010087:Oxides; D014867:Water; D003035:Cobalt; D013635:Tantalum