Abstract
We report a facile and efficient hydrothermal method for the controlled preparation of tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) flower-like hierarchical structures. The formation of flower-like hierarchical structure is systematically studied by tuning the reaction parameters such as precursor amount, reaction time, reaction temperature, hydrofluoric acid (HF) volume, hydrochloric acid (HCl) concentration and propanol-HCl volume ratio. The results reveal that simply altering the reaction conditions can easily modulate the morphology of the resultant Ta2O5 product. The growth mechanism for the formation of flower-like hierarchical structures has been proposed, where HF and propanol play a key role. A comparative study for photocatalytic hydrogen production was conducted by calcinating the product at 450 degrees C and 700 degrees C. The product calcinated at 450 degrees C revealed a higher photocatalytic activity than that calcined at 700 degrees C. The successful and convenient preparation of flower-like hierarchical structures can be easily scaled up and extended for the designing and fabrication of 3D hierarchical structures and visible-light driven heterostructures nanomaterial for energy production, environmental remediation and optical devices. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.