Synthesis and photocatalytic properties of tetragonal tungsten bronze type oxynitrides

Synthesis of a series of oxynitride Ba3-chi La chi Ta5O14-chi N1+x (x= 0-1.5) with a tetragonal tungsten bronze (TTB) structure was examined using moist-NH3 and 5% NH3-N-2 as nitriding atmosphere. The samples with x=0-1 were successfully obtained as phase pure TTB oxynitride whereas the x= 1.5 samples gave a mixture of TTB oxynitride, Ta3N5, and LaTaO4. Absorption of TTB oxynitrides in visible region was enhanced as increasing the content of nitrogen. TTB oxynitrides exhibited both of H-2 and O-2 evolution under visible light in the presence of methanol and silver ions, respectively, as sacrificial reagents. Nitrogen poor surface in the samples synthesized under moist-NH3 atmosphere was modified by annealing treatment using 5% NH3, resulting in improvement of photocatalytic activity for H2 evolution. Evaluation using monochromatic light revealed that the apparent quantum efficiency of Ba2LaTa5O13N2 was higher than that of Ba3Ta5O14N. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.