Visible Light Driven Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution by Lanthanum and Carbon-co-Doped NaTaO<sub>3</sub> Photocatalyst

Abstract

Lanthanum and carbon co-doped sodium tantalum oxide, La-C-NaTaO3, are prepared by incorporating lanthanum and carbon into NaTaO3 cluster via a sol-gel technique using a sucrose as carbon source. The La-C-NaTaO3 prepared sample is calcined at a temperature of 700 °C. Effects of carbon contents on the crystal, shape, optical absorption response and activity of hydrogen production of the sample are evaluated. The crystal of La-C-NaTaO3 is characterized by XRD analysis. The results show that the XRD pattern of the La C co-doped NaTaO3 is found to be crystalline phase with monoclinic structure. From the analysis of SEM images, the particle size of the prepared powder is about 40-200 nm. The optical response is examined by diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS). It is depicted that the absorption edge of La-C-NaTaO3 crystalline shift to higher wavelength. The extension to the visible light absorption edge became drastic with increasing carbon content in the sample. The photocatalytic activity of La-C-NaTaO3 is examined from water-methanol aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. It is found that the photocatalytic activity of La-C-NaTaO3 depend strongly on the doping content of C, and sample La-C-NaTaO3 shows the highest photocatalytic activity for the water reduction. The optimum amounts of carbon to maximize the hydrogen evolution rate is to be 2.5 mol %. The La-C-NaTaO3 catalyst has high activity of H2 evolution of 40.0 [μmol h-1] and long time stability under visible-light irradiation, suggesting a promising utilization of such photocatalyst. La C co-doped NaTaO3 photocatalyst can be developed further in order to produce hydrogen as a green energy.