General Synthesis of Single‐Crystalline Ta₂O₅ Nanorods Towards Enhanced Photocatalytic H₂ Production Activity

As a potential candidate for photocatalytic H₂ production from water splitting, Ta₂O₅ catalyst presents suitable conduction and valence band positions, but suffers from poor charge transfer ability, which seriously limits its photocatalytic performance enhancement. Here, a facile and eco-friendly hydrothermal method was developed for the fabrication of one-dimensional (1D) Ta₂O₅ nanorods using the freshly precipitated tantalic acids as the precursors. An oriented attachment mechanism was proposed for the growth of Ta₂O₅ nanorods. Moreover, the present synthetic approach was further extended to direct synthesis of nine kinds of alkaline tantalates and alkaline-earth tantalates nanostructures, suggesting its general applicability. A significant increase in activity in photocatalytic H₂ production was revealed on 1D Ta₂O₅ nanorods. The improved photocatalytic H₂ production activity of Ta₂O₅ nanorods was mainly attributed to its 1D nanorods structure with high crystallization and large specific surface areas as well as excellent charge transfer efficiency.