title: Interface engineering of a CoO(x)/Ta3N5 photocatalyst for unprecedented water oxidation performance under visible-light-irradiation.
abstract: Cocatalysts have been extensively used to promote water oxidation efficiency in solar-to-chemical energy conversion, but the influence of interface compatibility between semiconductor and cocatalyst has been rarely addressed. Here we demonstrate a feasible strategy of interface wettability modification to enhance water oxidation efficiency of the state-of-the-art CoO(x)/Ta3N5 system. When the hydrophobic feature of a Ta3N5 semiconductor was modulated to a hydrophilic one by in situ or ex situ surface coating with a magnesia nanolayer (2-5 nm), the interfacial contact between the hydrophilic CoO(x) cocatalyst and the modified hydrophilic Ta3N5 semiconductor was greatly improved. Consequently, the visible-light-driven photocatalytic oxygen evolution rate of the resulting CoO(x)/MgO(in)-Ta3N5 photocatalyst is ca. 23 times that of the pristine Ta3N5 sample, with a new record (11.3%) of apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) under 500-600 nm illumination.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian National Laboratory for Clean Energy, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023 (China) http://www.canli.dicp.ac.cn; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049 (China).
authors.forename: Shanshan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shuai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Guiji
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.forename: Fuxiang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Can
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: cocatalysts; interface engineering; photocatalysis; tantalum nitride; water splitting