Tantalum Nitride Nanorod Arrays: Introducing Ni–FeLayered Double Hydroxides as a Cocatalyst Strongly Stabilizing Photoanodesin Water Splitting.

Ta3N5nanostructuresare widely explored as anodesfor photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Although the materialshows excellent semiconductive properties for this purpose, the keychallenge is its severe photocorrosion when used in typical aqueousenvironments. In the present work we introduce a NiFe layered doublehydroxide (LDH) cocatalyst that dramatically reduces photocorrosioneffects. To fabricate the Ta3N5electrode, weuse through-template anodization of Ta and obtain oxide nanorod arraysthat then are converted to Ta3N5by high temperaturenitridation. After modification with our cocatalyst system, we obtainedsolar photocurrents of 6.3 mA cm–2at 1.23 VRHEin 1 M KOH, and an electrode maintains about 80% of theinitial activity for extended irradiation times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]