Mg modified BaTaO2N as an efficient visible-light-active photocatalyst for water oxidation

BaTaO 2 N owns a promising band gap of 1.8 eV and suitable band edge positions but generally exhibits poor photocatalytic activity for water splitting reactions. In this work, we have modified BaTaO 2 N by introducing Mg to the B site of perovskite lattice to form a new compound, i.e. BaTa 0.95 Mg 0.05 O 2+x N 1−y . This modification results in an alteration to a number of important parameters such as unit cell size, nitrogen content, optical absorption and microstructures etc. More importantly, Mg modifications are responsible for stronger Ta-O/N bonds, lower Ta 4+ defects concentration and positively shift of band edge positions, which in turn contribute to high photocatalytic activities for water oxidation reactions. Apparent quantum efficiency as high as 2.59% has been realized at 420 ± 20 nm, being the highest for BaTaO 2 N reported to date under similar conditions. Further photoelectrochemical analysis confirms better charge utilizations in Mg modified BaTaO 2 N.