Mesoporous Ta2O5 nanoparticles as an anode material for lithium ion battery and an efficient photocatalyst for hydrogen evolution

Mesoporous Ta2O5 nanoparticles (NPs) with high surface area were prepared using an 1-methyl 3-(2-bromoethyl) imidazolium bromide ionic liquid (IL) as structure directing and porous inducing agent. We have characterized the Ta2O5 nanoparticles (NPs) by XRD, BET analysis, TEM, SEM, DRS, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and TG-DTA. From BET analysis a large surface area of asprepared Ta2O5 NPs was found to be 236.1 m2 g−1. More importantly, Ta2O5...