A facile flame assisted approach to fabricate Ta2O5 microspheres

• A flame-assisted hydrolysis method to synthesize microspherical Ta2O5 powders was reported for the first time.
• No special setups or equipment is required for the formation of Ta2O5 microspheres.
• Improved photocatalytic performance was observed for annealed Ta2O5 microspheres on the degradation of methylene blue.
• Ta2O5 microspheres were used in fabricating DSSC photoanodes for the first time.

We report a novel and facile method to prepare microspherical Ta2O5 powders by flame assisted hydrolysis of tantalum ethoxide. The as-prepared samples were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) . Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were constructed using the obtained Ta2O5 microspheres as photoanode which showed reasonable performance (shot-circuit current density is 0.032 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage is 0.51 V, fill factor is 0.344, and energy conversion efficiency is 0.0057%). Improved photocatalytic performance was also demonstrated for Ta2O5 microsphere on the degradation of methylene blue compared with commercial Ta2O5. This work provides a novel and energy-saving way to synthesize microspherical Ta2O5 powders which has the potential of application in dye-sensitized solar cells and photodegradation.