Synthesis and photocatalytic activity of TaOxNy and Ta3N5

ENVR 42

Jessica Lucido, jlucido2@uiuc.edu1, Bolutife Bambgoye1, Ramesh Chandrasekharan, rchandra@uiuc.edu1, Nicholas Ndiege, ndiege@uiuc.edu2, Richard I. Masel, r-masel@uiuc.edu3, and Mark A. Shannon, mshannon@uiuc.edu1. (1) Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, (2) Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews, 294 Roger Adams Laboratory, 42-6 CLSL, MC 712, Urbana, IL 61820, (3) Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews, Urbana, IL 61801
UV photocatalysis using TiO2 and Ta2O5 has been a long researched method for the decontamination of water. N-doping of Ta2O5 using three different synthesis methods is explored as a way to reduce the energy bandgap. In the first method, Ta2O5 and urea are mixed using a mortar and heated at 400ºC for 30 minutes, in the second the Ta2O5 is heated in ammonia and, in the third, urea is included in a sol-gel synthesis. The preparation using sol gel allows for diffusion of the nitrogen throughout the Ta2O5, but is more expensive and time consuming. It also offers a better control of the doping percentage. The mortar-based mixing is less expensive and time consuming, but the doping is limited to the surface. The resulting oxynitrides are characterized using XPS and UV-Vis. The photocatalytic activity of TaOxNy and Ta3N5 are studied by measuring the decontamination rates of methylene blue and methanol. The oxynitrides obtained by these three different techniques were found to be photoactive and the energy band gap was found to be lower than the original oxide.
 

Advances in Adsorption Processes for Drinking Water Treatment and Sourcewater Protection
1:30 PM-5:10 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 236, Oral

Division of Environmental Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008