1. Penternary Wurtzitic Nitrides Li 1- x Zn x Ge 2- x Ga x N 3 : Powder Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Potentiality as a Solar-Active Photocatalyst.
- Author
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Suehiro T, Tansho M, Iwanade A, Ishigaki T, and Ohashi N
- Abstract
We developed a new penternary wurtzitic nitride system Li
1- x Znx Ge2- x Gax N3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) by hybridizing LiGe2 N3 and ZnGeGaN3 . Fairly stoichiometric fine powder samples were synthesized by the reduction-nitridation process at 900 °C. While the end member LiGe2 N3 possessed a relatively large band gap of 4.16 eV, the band gap of the developed penternary system varied in a broad range of 3.81 to 3.10 eV, showing promising responsivity to the solar spectrum. The crystal structure of LiGe2 N3 was precisely determined by time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction for the first time, revealing the complete ordering of Li and Ge in the Cmc 21 structure. The structural evolution from completely ordered LiGe2 N3 to fully disordered ZnGeGaN3 was quantitatively analyzed by Rietveld refinement based on a partially disordered Cmc 21 model, and the obtained results were also supported by71 Ga solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The synthesized Li1- x Znx Ge2- x Gax N3 powder samples exhibited photocatalytic activities for the water reduction and oxidation reactions under solar light irradiation, with the H2 evolution rate of 0.3-59.0 μmol/h and the O2 evolution rate of 3.1-296.2 μmol/h, depending on the composition. Stable solar hydrogen generation of up to 48 h was demonstrated by the x = 0.80 sample, with the total amount of H2 evolved over 1.6 mmol and an external quantum efficiency of 2.1%.- Published
- 2024
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