Lanthanide tantalite (Ln= La, Nd, Sm, Dy, Er and Tm) was synthesized by a solid state reaction between mixed powders of and . The single-phase was prepared by sintering at temperatures of 1423-1673 K in air. The SEM observation showed that the particles were provided with the growth steps and the depeloped facets. The photocatalytic activity for water splitting of prepared was measured under UV light irradiation. The activity obtained was higher than that previously reported. These results suggested the crystallinity of photocatalysts correlates closely with the efficiency of water splitting.

• Fujita
• Atsushi
• Matsushita
• Hiroaki
• Katsui
• Akinori