1. A first-principles study of anionic (S) and cationic (V/Nb) doped Sr2Ta2O7 for visible light photocatalysis
- Author
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Junjie Hu, Zuju Ma, Yuman Peng, and Kechen Wu
- Subjects
Hydrogen ,Chemistry ,business.industry ,Band gap ,General Chemical Engineering ,Analytical chemistry ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,General Chemistry ,010402 general chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,01 natural sciences ,0104 chemical sciences ,Optics ,Impurity ,Photocatalysis ,Ultraviolet light ,Water splitting ,Irradiation ,0210 nano-technology ,business ,Visible spectrum - Abstract
In order to effectively utilize the visible solar light to catalyze and decompose water into hydrogen and oxygen, the ultraviolet light responsive photocatalyst Sr2Ta2O7 is engineered via co-doping of the anionic (S) and cationic (V/Nb) to shift the VBM (valence band maximum) upward and CBM (conduction band minimum) downward by approximately 1 eV, respectively. By first principles study (GGA-PBE), it is discovered that the VBM of (S, V) co-doped Sr2Ta2O7 is shifted upward by 1.14 eV while the CBM of this system is shifted downward by 0.68 eV, which is due to the appearance of impurity states near the VBM and CBM, respectively. For (S, Nb) co-doped Sr2Ta2O7, the VBM is shifted upward by 0.74 eV and the CBM is shifted downward by 0.63 eV. No impurity states of Nd are created, neither near the CBM nor in the band gap for (S, Nb) co-doped case, probably because the Sr2Ta2O7 is essentially isostructural with Sr2Nb2O7. For these two systems mentioned above, it could be a feasible way for Sr2Ta2O7 photocatalyst on water splitting under UV irradiation to convert into the visible light-utilizing material without introducing extra electrons or holes.
- Published
- 2017
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