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Controllable nitridation of Ta2O5 in molten salts for enhanced photocatalysis

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Abstract

Pyrolysis of the Ta2O5/melamine mixture in molten chlorides is herein demonstrated as a facile and controllable method to nitridize and functionalize Ta2O5. The influence of the stoichiometry and composition of Ta2O5/melamine in molten salts on the nitridation process is rationalized to ensure the controllable preparation of Ta3N5 and Ta3N5/TaON. The characterization results, including scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, elemental mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy, all confirm the existence of the Ta3N5/TaON heterojunction, in which the TaON nanoparticles are closely anchored to the Ta3N5 nanorods. Benefiting from its composition and structure, the Ta3N5/TaON composites show enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue. The present study highlights that the molten salt method using a solid nitrogen source can be a new technique for rationalizing the design of nitrides and oxynitrides.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the funding support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51722404, 51674177, 51804221, and 91845113), the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFE0201703), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2018M642906 and 2019T120684), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2042019kf0230), and the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2019CFA065).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Power Sources, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Jing Zhou, Xian-bo Jin & Wei Xiao

  2. School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Sustainable Resource and Energy, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Dan-dan Nie

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  1. Jing Zhou
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Correspondence to Wei Xiao.

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Zhou, J., Nie, Dd., Jin, Xb. et al. Controllable nitridation of Ta2O5 in molten salts for enhanced photocatalysis. Int J Miner Metall Mater 27, 1703–1710 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2050-z

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