LAUSR

Abstract Tantalum nitride (Ta3N5) is one of the most promising photocatalysts for overall water splitting owing to its suitable band structure and high solar-to-hydrogen conversion efficiency. However, photocatalytic performance of pristine Ta3N5 is still restricted by its high recombination rate of photo-induced carriers. Building up a heterojunction at the semiconductor/semiconductor interface is an effective way to reduce the recombination rate of photoexcited carriers. In this work, a novel type II hetero-structured photocatalyst (denoted as Ta3N5/STON) composed of one-dimensional (1D) Ta3N5 nanorods and zero-dimensional (0D) SrTaO2N (STON) nanoparticles has been developed via a simple one-step nitridation of 1D Sr2KTa5O15 (SKTO) nanorods. Compared with pristine Ta3N5, STON and Ta3N5/STON (mix) composite, Ta3N5/STON (1D/0D) heterojunctions exhibit a remarkably enhanced hydrogen production rate (77.31 µmol h−1 g−1) under visible light irradiation, which is 386.6, 11.9 and 8.8 times higher than that of Ta3N5, STON and Ta3N5/STON (mix) composite, respectively. The unique 1D/0D structure in Ta3N5/STON heterojunction, as well as the intimate interface contact between Ta3N5 and SrTaO2N, fosters the spatial charge separation and transfer efficiency to a large extent, leading to an improved hydrogen evolution rate. Our work suggests a new strategy toward the rational design of 1D/0D heterojunction photocatalyst for efficient solar-to-hydrogen conversion.