Lattice Distortion Induced Ta‐doped BaTiO3 for Efficient Photocatalytic Water Splitting for Hydrogen Production

Abstract

AbstractBaTiO3, as a perovskite type material with excellent chemical stability and suitable conduction, has been widely studied in the field of photocatalysis. However, it can only absorb ultraviolet light because of its wide band gap. Herein, the lifetime of photogenerated electrons of BaTiO3 doped with Ta5+ can be enhanced. To study the band structure and photocatalytic performance of Ta‐doped BaTiO3, sol‐gel assisted solid‐phase method was employed to prepare BaTiO3 doped with varying Ta5+ doping amounts, and the structure characteristic and formation mechanism of the Ta‐doped BaTiO3 were analyzed. The results showed that the heat treatment temperature reached 1052.7 °C, sufficient thermodynamic conditions were obtained for Ta5+ to dope into the BaTiO3 lattice, and lattice distortion occurred in BaTiO3. Meanwhile, the particle size after doping decreased with the increase of Ta5+ doping amount. The 1.25 mol %Ta5+‐doped BaTiO3 had the lowest band gap (3.077 eV), and the photocatalytic water splitting had the best hydrogen evolution activity, which was 2.4 times that of BaTiO3. Furthermore, the conductance potential of 1.25 mol %Ta5+‐doped BaTiO3 was more negative than that of BaTiO3, which improved the thermodynamic advantage of the photocatalytic water splitting, and it had higher and more stable photoresponse and photogenerated carrier migration rate.