General Synthesis of Single‐Crystalline Ta₂O₅ Nanorods Towards Enhanced Photocatalytic H₂ Production Activity

As a potential candidate for photocatalytic H 2 production from water splitting, Ta 2 O 5 catalyst presents suitable conduction and valence band positions, but suffers from poor charge transfer ability, which seriously limits its photocatalytic performance enhancement. Here, a facile and eco‐friendly hydrothermal method was developed for the fabrication of one‐dimensional (1D) Ta 2 O 5 nanorods using the freshly precipitated tantalic acids as the precursors. An oriented attachment mechanism was proposed for the growth of Ta 2 O 5 nanorods. Moreover, the present synthetic approach was further extended to direct synthesis of nine kinds of alkaline tantalates and alkaline‐earth tantalates nanostructures, suggesting its general applicability. A significant increase in activity in photocatalytic H 2 production was revealed on 1D Ta 2 O 5 nanorods. The improved photocatalytic H 2 production activity of Ta 2 O 5 nanorods was mainly attributed to its 1D nanorods structure with high crystallization and large specific surface areas as well as excellent charge transfer efficiency.