Electronic structure and electrocatalytic activity of cerium-doped tantalum oxide

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• 作者：Yanhong Zhao ; Qiangqiang Du ; Xiaofang Cao ; Bo Chi ; Jun Zhang ; Chunmei Zhang ; Ting Liu ; Xiaojing Wang ; Yiguo Su
• 关键词：Tantalum oxide ; Electrocatalysis ; Density functional theory ; Cyclic voltammetry
• 刊名：Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：1 August, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：681
• 期：Complete
• 页码：139-143
• 全文大小：557 K

文摘

Cerium-doped tantalum oxide (cerium-Ta₂O₅) particles were synthesized using a low-temperature hydrothermal method. The crystal structure of the samples was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD results revealed that the Ta₂O₅ cells shrunk after cerium doping. The electronic structure of cerium-Ta₂O₅ was calculated using density functional theory (DFT). The DFT results indicated that the energy band of Ta₂O₅ was narrow when it was doped with cerium, which might have resulted in the improved electrocatalytic activity of Ta₂O₅. Therefore, calculation of results could be used as a direct theory by which the electrocatalytic activity of cerium-Ta₂O₅ may be studied. The electrocatalytic activity of cerium-Ta₂O₅ was investigated in a KCl solution containinng methylene blue (MB) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). The CV results showed that the cerium-Ta₂O₅ exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activity toward MB reduction. The cathodic peak potential of MB shifted from ?0.22 V on a glass carbon electrode to ?0.01 V on a cerium-Ta₂O₅ film electrode.