title: Enhanced Charge Transport in Tantalum Nitride Nanotube Photoanodes for Solar Water Splitting.
abstract: In the present work we grow anodic self-organized Ta2O5 nanotube layers, which are converted by ammonolysis to Ta3 N5 nanotubes, and then are used as photoanodes for photoanalytic water splitting. We introduce a two-step anodization process that not only improves order (reduced growth defects) and overall light absorption in the nanotube layers, but also provides a significantly reduced interface charge resistance at the nitride/metal interface due to subnitride (TaNx ) formation. As a result, such nanotube anodes afford a 15-fold increase of the photocurrent compared with conventional nanotubular Ta3 N5 electrodes under AM 1.5 G simulated sunlight (100 mW cm(-2)) conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
authors.forename: Nhat Truong
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
authors.forename: Imgon
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany).
authors.forename: Manuela S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Killian
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, WW4-LKO, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen (Germany). schmuki@ww.uni-erlangen.de.|Department of Chemistry, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). schmuki@ww.uni-erlangen.de.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schmuki
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013472:Sunlight; D013635:Tantalum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D013635:Tantalum
keywords: charge transfer; nanotubes; nitrides; tantalum; water splitting