Cu-Deficiency in the p-Type Semiconductor Cu5–xTa11O30: Impact on Its Crystalline Structure, Surfaces, and Photoelectrochemical Properties

The p-type semiconductor Cu5Ta11O30 has been investigated for the effect of Cu extrusion on its crystalline structure, surface chemistry, and photoelectrochemical properties. The Cu5Ta11O30 phase was prepared in high purity using a CuCl-mediated flux synthesis route, followed by heating the products in air from 250 to 750 °C in order to investigate the effects of its reported film preparation conditions as a p-type photoelectrode. At 650 °C and higher temperatures, Cu5Ta11O30 is found to decompose into CuTa2O6 and Ta2O5. At lower temperatures of 250 to 550 °C, nanosized CuIIO surface islands and a Cu-deficient Cu5–xTa11O30 crystalline structure (i.e., x ∼ 1.8(1) after 450 °C for 3 h in air) is found by electron microscopy and Rietveld structural refinement results, respectively. Its crystalline structure exhibits a decrease in the unit cell volume with increasing reaction temperature and time, owing to the increasing removal of Cu(I) ions from its structure. The parent structure of Cu5Ta11O30 is conserved...