Photocatalytic property and electronic structure of triple-layered perovskite tantalates, MCa2Ta3O10 (M = Cs, Na, H, and C6H13NH3).

The Dion-Jacobson series of triple-layered perovskite tantalates (MCa2Ta3O10, M = Cs, Na, H, and C6H13NH3) were synthesized to evaluate their photocatalytic activity for overall water splitting to evolve H2/O2 under UV irradiation. The photocatalytic activity was susceptible to the hydration of interlayer space. The hydrous Na phase exhibited much higher activity (H2: 308 micromol.h(-1)) compared to the anhydrous Cs phase (24 micromol.h(-1)) and the hydrous H phase (22 micromol.h(-1)) in the presence of 0.5 wt % Ni impregnated. H2O/D2O isotopic experiment suggested that the hydrated interlayer plays as an active site for water splitting, where the high mobility of water molecule in the interlayer should correlate with the total photocatalytic activity. The FLAPW electronic structure calculation demonstrated that the terminating oxygen site, O4, which faces to the interlayer space, contributes largely to the top of the valence band. Judging from comparison with the double-layered tantalates, MLaTa2O7, in our previous study, the contribution of terminating oxygen site to the band structure is supposed to depend on the number of perovskite layers.